Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV potx

Caesar an instrument of Providence His family and person Early manhood; marriage; profession; ambitionCurule magistrates; the Roman Senate Only rich men who control elections ordinarily

A free download from http://manybooks.net

Beacon Lights of History, Volume 04

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV, by John Lord

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You maycopy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook oronline at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV

Author: John Lord

Release Date: December 23, 2003 [eBook #10522]

Language: English

Character set encoding: iso-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUMEIV***

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed

Proofreading Team

LORD'S LECTURES

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME IV

JULIUS CAESAR

IMPERIALISM

Caesar an instrument of Providence His family and person Early manhood; marriage; profession; ambitionCurule magistrates; the Roman Senate Only rich men who control elections ordinarily elected Venality of thepeople Caesar borrows money to bribe the people Elected Quaestor Gains a seat in the Senate Second

marriage, with a cousin of Pompey Caesar made Pontifex Maximus; elected Praetor Sent to Spain; militaryservices in Spain Elected Consul; his reforms; Leges Juliae Opposition of the Aristocracy Assigned to theprovince of Gaul His victories over the Gauls and Germans Character of the races he subdued Amazingdifficulties of his campaigns Reluctance of the Senate to give him the customary honor Jealousy of the nobles;hostility between them and Caesar The Aristocracy unfit to govern; their habits and manners They call

Pompey to their aid Neither Pompey nor Caesar will disband his forces; Caesar recalled Caesar marches onHome; crosses the Rubicon Ultimate ends of Caesar; the civil war Pompey's incapacity and indecision; flies toBrundusi Caesar defeats Pompey's generals in Spain Dictatorship of Caesar Battle of Pharsalia Death ofPompey in Egypt Battles of Thapsus and of Munda They result in Caesar's supremacy His services as

Emperor His habits and character His assassination, its consequences Causes of Imperialism, its supposednecessity when Caesar arose; public rebuke of Caesar by Cicero An historical puzzle Authorities

MARCUS AURELIUS

THE GLORY OF ROME

Remarkable character of Marcus Aurelius His parentage and education Adopted by Antoninus Pius Subduesthe barbarians of Germany Consequences of the German Wars Mistakes of Marcus Aurelius; CommodusPersecutions of the Christians The "Meditations," their sublime Stoicism Epictetus, the influence of hiswritings Style and value of the "Meditations" Necessities of the Empire Its prosperity under the Antonines;external glories Its internal weakness; seeds of ruin Gibbon controverted by Marcus Aurelius AuthoritiesCONSTANTINE THE GREAT

Athanasius and Arius The Nicene Creed Effect of philosophical discussions on theological truths

Constantine's work; the uniting of Church with State Death of Constantine His character and services

CHRYSOSTOM

SACRED ELOQUENCE

The power of the Pulpit Eloquence always a power The superiority of the Christian themes to those of Paganantiquity Sadness of the great Pagan orators Cheerfulness of the Christian preachers Chrysostom EducationSociety of the times Chrysostom's conversion, and life in retirement Life at Antioch Characteristics of hiseloquence; his popularity as orator His influence Shelters Antioch from the wrath of Theodosius Power andresponsibility of the clergy Transferred to Constantinople, as Patriarch of the East His sermons, and theireffect at Court Quarrel with Eutropius Envy of Theophilus of Alexandria Council of the Oaks; condemnation

to exile Sustained by the people; recalled Wrath of the Empress Exile of Chrysostom His literary labors inexile His more remote exile, and death His fame and influence Authorities

SAINT AMBROSE

EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY

Dignity of the Episcopal office in the early Church Growth of Episcopal authority, its causes The See ofMilan; election of Ambrose as Archbishop His early life and character; his great ability Change in his lifeafter consecration His conservation of the Faith Persecution of the Manicheans Opposition to the Arians Hisenemies; Faustina Quarrel with the Empress Establishment of Spiritual Authority Opposition to TemporalPower Ambrose retires to his cathedral; Ambrosian chant Rebellion of Soldiers; triumph of Ambrose Sent asAmbassador to Maximus; his intrepidity His rebuke of Theodosius; penance of the Emperor Fidelity andability of Ambrose as Bishop His private virtues His influence on succeeding ages Authorities

SAINT AUGUSTINE

CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.

Lofty position of Augustine in the Church Parentage and birth Education and youthful follies Influence of theManicheans on him Teacher of rhetoric Visits Rome Teaches rhetoric at Milan Influence of Ambrose on himConversion; Christian experience Retreat to Lake Como Death of Monica his mother Return to Africa MadeBishop of Hippo; his influence as Bishop His greatness as a theologian; his vast studies Contest with

Manicheans, their character and teachings Controversy with the Donatists, their peculiarities Tracts: Unity

of the Church and Religious Toleration Contest with the Pelagians: Pelagius and Celestius Principles ofPelagianism Doctrines of Augustine: Grace; Predestination; Sovereignty of God; Servitude of the Will Results

of the Pelagian controversy Other writings of Augustine: "The City of God;" Soliloquies; Sermons Death andcharacter Eulogists of Augustine His posthumous influence Authorities

THEODOSIUS THE GREAT

LATTER DAYS OF ROME

The mission of Theodosius General sense of security in the Roman world The Romans awake from theirdelusion Incursions of the Goths Battle of Adrianople; death of Valens Necessity for a great deliverer to arise;Theodosius The Goths, their characteristics and history Elevation of Theodosius as Associate Emperor Heconciliates the Goths, and permits them to settle in the Empire Revolt of Maximus against Gratian; death ofGratian Theodosius marches against Maximus and subdues him Revolt of Arbogastes, his usurpation

Victories of Theodosius over all his rivals; the Empire once more united under a single man Reforms ofTheodosius; his jurisprudence Patronage of the clergy and dignity of great ecclesiastics Theodosius persecutesthe Arians Extinguishes Paganism and closes the temples Cements the union of Church with State Faults anderrors of Theodosius; massacre of Thessalonica Death of Theodosius Division of the Empire between his twosons Renewed incursions of the Goths, Alaric; Stilicho Fall of Rome; Genseric and the Vandals Second sack

of Rome Reflections on the Fall of the Western Empire Authorities

LEO THE GREAT

FOUNDATION OF THE PAPACY

Leo the Great, founder of the Catholic Empire General aim of the Catholic Church The Church the guardian

of spiritual principles Theocratic aspirations of the Popes Origin of ecclesiastical power; the early PopesPrimacy of the Bishop of Rome Necessity for some higher claim after the fall of Rome Early life of LeoElevation to the Papacy; his measures; his writings His persecution of the Manicheans Conservation of theFaith by Leo Intercession with the barbaric kings; Leo's intrepidity Desolation of Rome Designs and thoughts

of Leo The jus divinum principle; state of Rome when this principle was advocated Its apparent necessity The

influence of arrogant pretensions on the barbarians They are indorsed by the Emperor The government of LeoThe central power of the Papacy Unity of the Church No rules of government laid down in the ScripturesGovernments the result of circumstances The Papal government the need of the Middle Ages The Papacy inits best period Greatness of Leo's character and aims Fidelity of his early successors, and perversions of laterPopes Authorities

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME IV

The Conversion of Paula by St Jerome _After the painting by L Alma-Tadema_

Archery Practice of a Persian King _After the painting by F.A Bridgman_

Tomyris Plunges the Head of the Dead Cyrus into a Vessel of Blood _After the painting by A Zick_.

Julius Caesar _From the bust in the National Museum, Rome_

Surrender of Vercingetorix, the Last Chief of Gaul After the painting by Henri Motte.

Marcus Aurelius _From a photograph of the statue at the Capitol, Rome_

Persecution of Christians in the Roman Arena _After the painting by G Mantegazza_

St Jerome in His Cell _After the painting by J.L Gérôme_

St Chrysostom Condemns the Vices of the Empress Eudoxia After the painting by Jean Paul Laurens.

St Ambrose Refuses the Emperor Theodosius Admittance to His Church _After the painting by GebhartFügel_

St Augustine and His Mother After the painting by Ary Scheffer.

Invasion of the Goths into the Roman Empire _After the painting by O Fritsche_

Invasion of the Huns into Italy _After the painting by V Checa_

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY

It is to be regretted that so little is really known of the Persian hero, both in the matter of events and also ofexact dates, since chronologists differ, and can only approximate to the truth in their calculations In thislecture, which is in some respects an introduction to those that will follow on the heroes and sages of Greek,Roman, and Christian antiquity, it is of more importance to present Oriental countries and institutions thanany particular character, interesting as he may be, especially since as to biography one is obliged to sifthistorical facts from a great mass of fables and speculations

Neither Herodotus, Xenophon, nor Ctesias satisfy us as to the real life and character of Cyrus This renownedname represents, however, the Persian power, the last of the great monarchies that ruled the Oriental worlduntil its conquest by the Greeks Persia came suddenly into prominence in the middle of the seventh centurybefore Christ Prior to this time it was comparatively unknown and unimportant, and was one of the dependentprovinces of Media, whose religion, language, and customs were not very dissimilar to its own.

Persia was a small, rocky, hilly, arid country about three hundred miles long by two hundred and fifty wide,situated south of Media, having the Persian Gulf as its southern boundary, the Zagros Mountains on the westseparating it from Babylonia, and a great and almost impassable desert on the east, so that it was easily

defended Its population was composed of hardy, warlike, and religious people, condemned to poverty andincessant toil by the difficulty of getting a living on sterile and unproductive hills, except in a few favoredlocalities The climate was warm in summer and cold in winter, but on the whole more temperate than might

be supposed from a region situated so near the tropics, between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth degrees oflatitude It was an elevated country, more than three thousand feet above the sea, and was favorable to thecultivation of the fruits and flowers that have ever been most prized, those cereals which constitute the

ordinary food of man growing in abundance if sufficient labor were spent on their cultivation, reminding us ofSwitzerland and New England But vigilance and incessant toil were necessary, such as are only found among

a hardy and courageous peasantry, turning easily from agricultural labors to the fatigues and dangers of war.The real wealth of the country was in the flocks and herds that browsed in the valleys and plains Game of allkinds was abundant, so that the people were unusually fond of the pleasures of the chase; and as they weretemperate, inured to exposure, frugal, and adventurous, they made excellent soldiers Nor did they ever as anation lose their warlike qualities, it being only the rich and powerful among them who learned the vices ofthe nations they subdued, and became addicted to luxury, indolence, and self-indulgence Before the conquest

of Media the whole nation was distinguished for temperance, frugality, and bravery According to Herodotus,the Persians were especially instructed in three things, "to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth."Their moral virtues were as conspicuous as their warlike qualities They were so poor that their ordinary dresswas of leather They could boast of no large city, like the Median Ecbatana, or like Babylon, Pasargadae,their ancient capital, being comparatively small and deficient in architectural monuments The people livedchiefly in villages and hamlets, and were governed, like the Israelites under the Judges, by independentchieftains, none of whom attained the rank and power of kings until about one hundred years before the birth

of Cyrus These pastoral and hunting people, frugal from necessity, brave from exposure, industrious from thedifficulty of subsisting in a dry and barren country, for the most sort were just such a race as furnished a noblematerial for the foundation of a great empire

Whence came this honest, truthful, thrifty race? It is generally admitted that it was a branch of the great Aryanfamily, whose original settlements are supposed to have been on the high table-lands of Central Asia east ofthe Caspian Sea, probably in Bactria They emigrated from that dreary and inhospitable country after

Zoroaster had proclaimed his doctrines, after the sacred hymns called the Gathas were sung, perhaps evenafter the Zend-Avesta or sacred writings of the Zoroastrian priests had been begun, conquering or drivingaway Turanian tribes, and migrating to the southwest in search of more fruitful fields and fertile valleys, theyfound a region which has ever since borne a name Iran that evidently commemorated the proud title of theAryan race And this great movement took place about the time that another branch of their race also migratedsoutheastwardly to the valleys of the Indus The Persians and the Hindus therefore had common

ancestors, the same indeed, as those of the Greeks, Romans, Sclavonians, Celts, and Teutons, who migrated

to the northwest and settled in Europe The Aryans in all their branches were the noblest of the primitiveraces, and have in their later developments produced the highest civilization ever attained They all hadsimilar elements of character, especially love of personal independence, respect for woman, and a religioustendency of mind We see a considerable similarity of habits and customs between the Teutonic races ofGermany and Scandinavia and the early inhabitants of Persia, as well as great affinity in language All

branches of the Aryan family have been warlike and adventurous, if we may except the Hindus, who weresubjected to different influences, especially of climate, which enervated their bodies if it did not weaken theirminds

When the migration of the Iranians took place it is difficult to determine, but probably between fifteen

hundred and two thousand years before our era, although it may have been even five hundred years earlierthan that All theories as to their movements before their authentic history begins are based on conjecture andspeculation, which it is not profitable to pursue, since we can settle nothing in the present state of our

knowledge

It is very singular that the Iranians should have had, after their migrations and settlements, religious ideas andsystems so different from those of the Hindus, considering that they had common ancestors The Iranians,including the Medes as well as Persians, accepted Zoroaster as their prophet and teacher, and the Zend-Avesta

as their sacred books, and worshipped one Supreme Deity, whom they called Ahura-Mazda (Ormazd), theLord Omniscient, and thus were monotheists; while the Hindus were practically poly-theists, governed by asacerdotal caste, who imposed gloomy austerities and sacrifices, although it would seem that the older

Vedistic hymns of the Hindus were theistic in spirit The Magi the priests of the Iranians differed widely intheir religious views from the Brahmans, inculcating a higher morality and a loftier theological creed,

worshipping the Supreme Being without temples or shrines or images, although their religion ultimatelydegenerated into a worship of the powers of Nature, as the recognition of Mithra the sun-god and the

mysterious fire-altars would seem to indicate But even in spite of the corruptions introduced by the Magiwhen they became a powerful sacerdotal body, their doctrine remained purer and more elevated than thereligions of the surrounding nations

While the Iranians worshipped a supreme deity of goodness, they also recognized a supreme deity of evil,both ruling the world in perpetual conflict by unnumbered angels, good and evil; but the final triumph of thegood was a conspicuous article of their faith In close logical connection with this recognition of a supremepower in the universe was the belief of a future state and of future rewards and punishments, without whichbelief there can be, in my opinion, no high morality, as men are constituted

In process of time the priests of the Zoroastrian faith became unduly powerful, and enslaved the people bymany superstitions, such as the multiplication of rites and ceremonies and the interpretation of dreams andomens They united spiritual with temporal authority, as a powerful priesthood is apt to do, a fact which theChristian priesthood of the Middle Ages made evident in the Occidental world

In the time of Cyrus the Magi had become a sort of sacerdotal caste They were the trusted ministers of kings,and exercised a controlling influence over the people They assumed a stately air, wore white and flowingrobes, and were adept in the arts of sorcery and magic They were even consulted by kings and chieftains, as ifthey possessed prophetic power They were a picturesque body of men, with their mystic wands, their

impressive robes, their tall caps, appealing by their long incantations and frequent ceremonies and prayers tothe eye and to the ear "Pure Zoroastrianism was too spiritual to coalesce readily with Oriental luxury andmagnificence when the Persians were rulers of a vast empire, but Magism furnished a hierarchy to support thethrone and add splendor and dignity to the court, while it blended easily with previous creeds."

In material civilization the Medes and Persians were inferior to the Babylonians and Egyptians, and

immeasurably behind the Greeks and Romans Their architecture was not so imposing as that of the Egyptiansand Babylonians; it had no striking originality, and it was only in the palaces of great monarchs that anythingapproached magnificence Still, there were famous palaces at Ecbatana, Susa, and Persepolis, raised on loftyplatforms, reached by grand staircases, and ornamented with elaborate pillars The most splendid of thesewere erected after the time of Cyrus, by Darius and Xerxes, decorated with carpets, hangings, and goldenornaments The halls of their palaces were of great size and imposing effect Next to palaces, the most

remarkable buildings were the tombs of kings; but we have no remains of marble statues or metal castings orivory carvings, not even of potteries, which at that time in other countries were common and beautiful Thegems and signet rings which the Persians engraved possessed much merit, and on them were wrought withgreat skill the figures of men and animals; but the nearest approach to sculpture were the figures of colossalbulls set to guard the portals of palaces, and these were probably borrowed from the Assyrians

Nor were the Persians celebrated for their textile fabrics and dyes "So long as the carpets of Babylon, theshawls of India, the fine linen of Egypt, and the coverlets of Damascus poured continually into Persia in theway of tribute and gifts, there was no stimulus to manufacture." The same may be said of the ornamentalmetal-work of the Greeks, and the glass manufacture of the Phoenicians The Persians were soldiers, andgloried in being so, to the disdain of much that civilization has ever valued.

It may as well be here said that the Iranians, both Medes and Persians, were acquainted with the art of writing.Harpagus sent a letter to Cyrus concealed in the belly of a hare, and Darius signed a decree which his noblespresented to him in writing In common with the Babylonians they used the same alphabetic system, thoughtheir languages were unlike, namely, the cuneiform or arrow-head or wedge-shaped characters, as seen in thecelebrated inscriptions of Darius on the side of a high rock thirty feet from the ground We cannot determinewhether the Medes and Persians brought their alphabet from their original settlements in Central Asia, orderived it from the Turanian and Semitic nations with which they came in contact In spite of their knowledge

of writing, however, they produced no literature of any account, and of science they were completely ignorant.They made few improvements even in military weapons, the chief of which, as among all the nations ofantiquity, were the bow, the spear, and the sword They were skilful horsemen, and made use of chariots ofwar Their great occupation, aside from agriculture, was hunting, in which they were trained by exposure forwar They were born to conquer and rule, like the Romans, and cared for little except the warlike virtues.Such were the Persians and the rugged country in which they lived, with their courage and fortitude, their love

of freedom, their patriotism, their abhorrence of lies, their self-respect allied with pride, their temperance andfrugality, forming a noble material for empire and dominion when the time came for the old monarchies to fallinto their hands, the last and greatest of all the races that had ruled the Oriental world, and kindred in theirremote ancestry with those European conquerors who laid the foundation of modern civilization

Of these Persians Cyrus was the type-man, combining in himself all that was admirable in his countrymen,and making so strong an impression on the Greeks that he is presented by their historians as an ideal prince,invested with all those virtues which the mediaeval romance-writers have ascribed to the knights of chivalry.The Persians were ruled by independent chieftains, or petty kings, who acknowledged fealty to Media; so thatPersia was really a province of Media, as Burgundy was of France in the Middle Ages, and as Babylonia atone period was of Assyria The most prominent of these chieftains or princes was Achaemenes, who is

regarded as the founder of the Persian monarchy To this royal family of the Achaemenidae Cyrus belonged.His father Cambyses, called by some a satrap and by others a king, married, according to Herodotus, a

daughter of Astyages, the last of the Median monarchs

The youth and education of Cyrus are invested with poetic interest by both Herodotus and Xenophon, but theirnarratives have no historical authority in the eyes of critics, any more than Livy's painting of Romulus andRemus: they belong to the realm of romance rather than authentic history Nevertheless the legend of Cyrus isbeautiful, and has been repeated by all succeeding historians

According to this legend, Astyages a luxurious and superstitious monarch, without the warlike virtues of hisfather, who had really built up the Median empire had a dream that troubled him, which being interpreted bythe Magi, priests of the national religion, was to the effect that his daughter Mandanê (for he had no legitimateson) would be married to a prince whose heir should seize the supreme power of Media To prevent this, hemarried her to a prince beneath her rank, for whom he felt no fear, Cambyses, the chief governor or king ofPersia, who ruled a territory to the South, about one fifth the size of Media, and which practically was adependent province Another dream which alarmed Astyages still further, in spite of his precaution, inducedhim to send for his daughter, so that having her in his power he might easily destroy her offspring As soon asCyrus was born therefore in the royal palace at Ecbatana, the king intrusted the infant prince to one of theprincipal officers of his court, named Harpagus, with peremptory orders to destroy him Harpagus, although

he professed unconditional obedience to his monarch, had scruples about taking the life of one so near the

throne, the grandson of the king and presumptive heir of the monarchy So he, in turn, intrusted the royalinfant to the care of a herdsman, in whom he had implicit confidence, with orders to kill him The herdsmanhad a tender-hearted and conscientious wife who had just given birth to a dead child, and she persuaded herhusband for even in Media women virtually ruled, as they do everywhere, if they have tact to substitute thedead child for the living one, deck it out in the royal costume, and expose it to wild beasts This was done, andCyrus remained the supposed child of the shepherd The secret was well kept for ten years, and both Astyagesand Harpagus supposed that Cyrus was slain.

Cyrus meanwhile grew up among the mountains, a hardy and beautiful boy, exposed to heat and cold, hungerand fatigue, and thus was early inured to danger and hardship Added to personal beauty was remarkablecourage, frankness, and brightness, so that he took the lead of other boys in their amusements One day theyplayed king, and Cyrus was chosen to represent royalty, which he acted so literally as to beat the son of aMedian nobleman for disobedience The indignant and angry father complained at once to the king, andAstyages sent for the herdsman and his supposed son to attend him in his palace When the two mountaineerswere ushered into the royal presence, Astyages was so struck with the beauty, wit, and boldness of the boythat he made earnest inquiries of the herdsman, who was forced to tell the truth, and confessed that the youthwas not his son, but had been put into his hands by Harpagus with orders to destroy him The royal origin ofCyrus was now apparent, and the king sent for Harpagus, who corroborated the statement of the herdsman.Astyages dissembled his wrath, as Oriental monarchs can, who are trained to dissimulation, and the onlypunishment he inflicted on Harpagus was to set before him at a banquet a dish made of the arms and legs of adead infant This the courtier in turn professed to relish, but henceforth became the secret and implacableenemy of the king

Herodotus tells us that Astyages took the boy, unmistakably his grandson and heir, to his palace to be

educated according to his rank Cyrus was now brought up with every honor and the greatest care, taught tohunt and ride and shoot with the bow like the highest nobles He soon distinguished himself for his feats inhorsemanship and skill in hunting wild animals, winning universal admiration, and disarming envy by his tact,amiability, and generosity, which were as marked as his intellectual brilliancy, being altogether a model ofreproachless chivalry

For some reason, however, the fears and jealousy of Astyages were renewed, and Cyrus was sent to his father

in Persia with costly gifts Possibly he was recalled by Cambyses himself, for a father by all the Eastern codeshad a right to the person of his son

No sooner was Cyrus established in Persia, a country which it would seem he had never before seen, than hewas sought by the discontented Persians to head a revolt against their masters, and he availed himself of thedisaffection of Harpagus, the most influential of the Median noblemen, for the dethronement of his

grandfather Persia arose in rebellion against Media A war ensued, and in a battle between the conflictingforces Astyages was defeated and taken prisoner, but was kindly treated by his magnanimous conqueror Thisbattle ended the Median ascendency, and Cyrus became the monarch of both Media and Persia

Since the Medes belonged to the same Aryan family as the Persians, and had the same language, religion, andinstitutions, with slight differences, and lived among the mountains exposed to an uncongenial climate withextremes of heat and cold, and were doomed to hard and incessant labors for a subsistence, and were

therefore that is, the ordinary people frugal, industrious, and temperate, it will be seen that what we havesaid of Persia equally applies to Media, except the possession by the latter of political power as wielded by thesovereign of a larger State

Before a central power was established in Media, the country had been as in all nations in their formativestate ruled by chieftains, who acknowledged as their supreme lord the King of Assyria, who reigned inNineveh Among these chieftains was a remarkable man called Deioces, so upright and able that he waselected king Deioces reigned fifty-three years wisely and well, bequeathing the kingdom he had founded to

his son Phraortes, under whom Media became independent of Assyria His son and successor Cyaxares, whodied 593 B.C., was a successful warrior and conqueror, and was the founder of Median greatness With theassistance of Nabopolassar, a Babylonian general who had also revolted against the Assyrian monarch,Cyaxares succeeded, after repeated failures, in taking Nineveh and destroying the great Assyrian Empirewhich had ruled the Eastern world for several centuries The northern and eastern provinces were annexed toMedia, while the Babylonian valley of the Euphrates in the south fell to the share of Nabopolassar, whoestablished the Babylonian ascendency This in its turn was greatly augmented by his son Nebuchadnezzar,one of the most famous conquerors of antiquity, whose empire became more extensive even than the

Assyrian He reigned in Babylon with unparalleled splendor, and made his capital the wonder and the

admiration of the world, enriching and ornamenting it with palaces, temples, and hanging gardens, and

strengthening its defences to such a marvellous degree that it was deemed impregnable

Cyaxares the Median meanwhile raised up in Ecbatana a rival power to that of Babylon, although he devotedhimself to warlike expeditions more than to the adornment of his capital He penetrated with his invincibletroops as far to the west as Lydia in Asia Minor, then ruled by the father of Croesus, and thus became known

to the Ionian cities which the Greeks had colonized After a brilliant reign, Cyaxares transmitted his empire to

an unworthy son, Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus, whose loss of the throne has been already related WithAstyages perished the Median Empire, which had lasted only about one hundred years, and Media was

incorporated with Persia Henceforth the Medes and Persians are spoken of as virtually one nation, similar inreligion and customs, and furnishing equally the best cavalry in the world Under Cyrus they became theascendent power in Asia, and maintained their ascendency until their conquest by Alexander The unionbetween Media and Persia was probably as complete as that between Burgundy and France, or that of

Scotland with England Indeed, Media now became the residence of the Persian kings, whose palaces atEcbatana, Susa, and Persepolis nearly rivalled those of Babylon Even modern Persia comprises the ancientMedia

The reign of Cyrus properly begins with the conquest of Media, or rather its union with Persia, B.C 549 Weknow, however, but little of the career of Cyrus after he became monarch of both Persia and Media, until hewas forty years of age He was probably engaged in the conquest of various barbaric hordes before his

memorable Lydian campaign But we are in ignorance of his most active years, when he was exposed to thegreatest dangers and hardships, and when he became perfected in the military art, as in the case of Caesaramid the marshes and forests of Gaul and Belgium The fame of Caesar rests as much on his conquests of theCeltic barbarians of Europe as on his conflict with Pompey; but whether Cyrus obtained military fame or not

in his wars against the Turanians, he doubtless proved himself a benefactor to humanity more in arresting thetide of Scythian invasion than by those conquests which have given him immortality

When Cyrus had cemented his empire by the conquest of the Turanian nations, especially those that dweltbetween the Caspian and Black seas, his attention was drawn to Lydia, the most powerful kingdom of westernAsia, whose monarch, Croesus, reigned at Sardis in Oriental magnificence Lydia was not much known todistant States until the reign of Gyges, about 716 B.C., who made war on the Dorian and Ionian Greek

colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, the chief of which were Miletus, Smyrna, Colophon, and Ephesus Hissuccessor Ardys continued this warfare, but was obliged to desist because of an invasion of the

Cimmerians, barbarians from beyond the Caucasus, driven away from their homes by the Scythians Hisgrandson Alyattes, greatest of the Lydian monarchs, succeeded in expelling the Cimmerians from Lydia Aftersubduing some of the maritime cities of Asia Minor, this monarch faced the Medes, who had advanced theirempire to the river Halys, the eastern boundary of Lydia, which flows northwardly into the Euxine For fiveyears Alyattes fought the Medes under Cyaxares with varying success, and the war ended by the marriage ofthe daughter of the Lydian king with Astyages After this, Alyattes reigned forty-three years, and was buried

in a tomb whose magnificence was little short of the grandest of the Egyptian monuments

Croesus, his son, entered upon a career which reminds us of Solomon, the inheritor of the conquests of David.Like the Jewish monarch, Croesus was rich, luxurious, and intellectual His wealth, obtained chiefly from the

mines of his kingdom, was a marvel to the Greeks His capital Sardis became the largest in western Asia, andone of the most luxurious cities known to antiquity, whither resorted travellers from all parts of the world,attracted by the magnificence of the court, among whom was Solon himself, the great Athenian law-giver.Croesus continued the warfare on the Greek cities of Asia, and forced them to become his tributaries Hebrought under his sway most of the nations to the west of the Halys, and though never so great a warrior as hisfather, he became very powerful He was as generous in his gifts as he was magnificent in his tastes Hisofferings to the oracle at Delphi were unprecedented in their value, when he sought advice as to the wisdom ofengaging in war with Cyrus Of the three great Asian empires, Croesus now saw his father's ally, Babylon,under a weak and dissolute ruler; Media, absorbed into Persia under the power of a valiant and successfulconqueror; and his own empire, Lydia, threatened with attack by the growing ambition of Persia Herodotussays he "was led to consider whether it were possible to check the growing power of that people."

It was the misfortune of Croesus to overrate his strength, an error often seen in the career of fortunate men,especially those who enter upon a great inheritance It does not appear that Croesus desired war with Persia,but he did not dread it, and felt confident that he could overcome a man whose chief conquests had been madeover barbarians Perhaps he felt the necessity of contending with Cyrus before that warrior's victories andprestige should become overwhelming, for the Persian monarch obviously aimed at absorbing all Asia in hisempire; at any rate, when informed by the oracle at Delphi that if he fought with the Persians he would

destroy a mighty empire, Croesus interpreted the response in his own favor

Croesus made great preparations for the approaching contest, which was to settle the destiny of Asia Minor.The Greeks were on his side, for they feared the Persians more than they did the Lydians With the aid ofSparta, the most warlike of the Grecian States, he advanced to meet the Persian conqueror, not howeverwithout the expostulation of some of his wisest counsellors One of them, according to Herodotus, ventured toaddress him with these plain words: "Thou art about, O King, to make war against men who wear leathertrousers and other garments of leather; who feed not on what they like, but on what they can get from a soilwhich is sterile and unfriendly; who do not indulge in wine, but drink water; who possess no figs, nor

anything which is good to eat If, then, thou conquerest them, what canst thou get from them, seeing that theyhave nothing at all? But if they conquer thee, consider how much that is precious thou wilt lose; if they onceget a taste of our pleasant things, they will keep such a hold of them that we never shall be able to make themlose their grasp." We cannot consider Croesus as utterly infatuated in not taking this advice, since war hadbecome inevitable, It was "either anvil or hammer," as between France and Prussia in 1870-72, as betweenall great powers that accept the fortune of war, ever uncertain in its results The only question seems to havebeen who should first take the offensive in a war that had been long preparing, and in which defeat would befollowed by the utter ruin of the defeated party

The Lydians began the attack by crossing the Halys and entering the enemy's territory The first battle tookplace at Pteria in Cappadocia, near Sinope on the Euxine, but was indecisive Both parties fought bravely, andthe slaughter on both sides was dreadful, the Lydians being the most numerous, and the Persians the mosthighly disciplined After the battle of Pteria, Croesus withdrew his army to his own territories and retired uponhis capital, with a view of augmenting his forces; while Cyrus, with the instinct of a conqueror, ventured tocross the Halys in pursuit, and to march rapidly on Sardis before the enemy could collect another army.Prompt decision and celerity of movement characterize all successful warriors, and here it was that Cyrusshowed his military genius Before Croesus was fully prepared for another fight, Cyrus was at the gates ofSardis But the Lydian king rallied what forces he could, and led them out to battle The Lydians were

superior in cavalry; seeing which, Cyrus, with that fertility of resource which marked his whole career,

collected together the camels which transported his baggage and provisions, and placed them in the front ofhis array, since the horse, according to Herodotus, has a natural dread of the camel and cannot abide his sight

or his smell The result was as Cyrus calculated; the cavalry of the Lydians turned round and galloped away.The Lydians fought bravely, but were driven within the walls of their capital Cyrus vigorously prosecuted thesiege, which lasted only fourteen days, since an attack was made on the side of the city which was

undefended, and which was supposed to be impregnable and unassailable The proud city fell by assault, and

was given up to plunder Croesus himself was taken alive, after a reign of fourteen years, and the mightyLydia became a Persian province.

There is something unusually touching in the fate of Croesus after so great prosperity Saved by Cyrus from

an ignominious and painful death, such as the barbarous customs of war then made common, the unhappyLydian monarch became, it is said, the friend and admirer of the Conqueror, and was present in his futureexpeditions, and even proved a wise and faithful counsellor If some proud monarchs by the fortune of warhave fallen suddenly from as lofty an eminence as that of Croesus, it is certain that few have yielded withnobler submission than he to the decrees of fate

The fall of Sardis, B.C 546, according to Grote, was followed by the submission of all the States that weredependent on Lydia Even the Grecian colonies in Asia Minor were annexed to the Persian Empire

The conquest of the Ionian cities, first by Croesus and then by Cyrus, was attended with important politicalconsequences Before the time of Croesus the Greek cities of Asia were independent Had they combinedtogether for offence and defence, with the assistance of Sparta and Athens, they might have resisted theattacks of both Lydians and Persians But the autonomy of cities and states, favorable as it was to the

development of art, literature, and commerce, as well as of individual genius in all departments of knowledgeand enterprise, was not calculated to make a people politically powerful Only a strong central power enables

a country to resist hostile aggressions on a great scale Thus Greece herself ultimately fell into the hands ofPhilip, and afterward into those of the Romans

The conquest of the Ionian cities also introduced into Asia Minor and perhaps into Europe Oriental customs,luxuries, and wealth hitherto unknown Certainly when Persia became an irresistible power and ruled theconquered countries by satraps and royal governors, it assimilated the Greeks with Asiatics, and modified theforms of social life; it brought Asia and Europe together, and produced a rivalry which finally ended in thebattle of Marathon and the subsequent Asiatic victories of Alexander While the conquests of the Persiansintroduced Oriental ideas and customs into Greece, the wars of Alexander extended the Grecian sway in Asia.The civilized world opened toward the East; but with the extension of Greek ideas and art, there was a decline

of primitive virtues in Greece herself Luxury undermined power

The annexation of Asia Minor to the empire of Cyrus was followed by a protracted war with the barbarians onhis eastern boundaries The imperfect subjugation of barbaric nations living in Central Asia occupied Cyrus, it

is thought, about twelve years He pushed his conquests to the Iaxartes on the north and Afghanistan on theeast, reducing that vast country which lies between the Caspian Sea and the deserts of Tartary

Cyrus was advancing in years before he undertook the conquest of Babylon, the most important of all hisundertakings, and for which his other conquests were preparatory At the age of sixty, Cyrus, 538 B.C.,advanced against Narbonadius, the proud king of Babylon, the only remaining power in Asia that was stillformidable The Babylonian Empire, which had arisen on the ruins of the Assyrian, had lasted only about onehundred years Yet what wonders and triumphs had been seen at Babylon during that single century! Whatprogress had been made in arts and sciences! What grand palaces and temples had been erected! What amultitude of captives had added to the pomp and wealth of the proudest city of antiquity! Babylon the

great, -"the glory of kingdoms," "the praise of the whole earth," the centre of all that was civilized and allthat was corrupting in the Oriental world, with its soothsayers, its magicians, its necromancers, its priests, itsnobles, was now to fall, for its abominations cried aloud to heaven for punishment

This great city was built on both sides of the Euphrates, was fifteen miles square, with gardens and fieldscapable of supporting a large population, and was stocked with provisions to maintain a siege of indefinitelength against any enemy The accounts of its walls and fortifications exceed belief, estimated by Herodotus

to be three hundred and fifty feet in height, with a wide moat surrounding them, which could not be bridged orcrossed by an invading army The soldiers of Narbonadius looked with derision on the veteran forces of

Cyrus, although they were inured to the hardships and privations of incessant war To all appearance the citywas impregnable, and could be taken only by unusual methods But the genius of the Persian conqueror,according to traditional accounts, surmounted all difficulties Who else would have thought of diverting theEuphrates from its bed into the canals and gigantic reservoirs which Nebuchadnezzar had built for purposes ofirrigation? Yet this seems to have been done Taking advantage of a festival, when the whole population weregiven over to bacchanalian orgies, and therefore off their guard, Cyrus advanced, under the cover of a darknight, by the bed of the river, now dry, and easily surprised the drunken city, slaying the king, with a thousand

of his lords, as he was banqueting in his palace The slightest accident or miscarriage would have defeated sobold an operation The success of Cyrus had all the mystery and solemnity of a Providential event Though nomiracle was wrought, the fall of Babylon so strong, so proud, so defiant was as wonderful as the passage ofthe Israelites across the Red Sea, or the crumbling walls of Jericho before the blasts of the trumpets of Joshua.However, this account is to be taken with some reserve, since by the discoveries of historical "cylinders," theclay books whereon the Chaldaean priests and scribes recorded the main facts of the reigns of their

monarchs, and especially one called the "Proclamation Cylinder," prepared for Cyrus after the fall of

Babylon, it would seem that dissension and treachery within had much to do with facilitating the entrance ofthe invader Narbonadius, the second successor of Nebuchadnezzar, had quarrelled with the priesthood ofBabylon, and neglected the worship of Bel-Marduk and Nebo, the special patron gods of that city The captiveJews also, who had been now nearly fifty years in the land, had grown more zealous for their own God andreligion, more influential and wealthy, and even had become in some sort a power in the State The invasion

of Cyrus a monotheist like themselves must have seemed to them a special providence from Jehovah;indeed, we know that it did, from the records in II Chronicles xxxvi 22, 23: "The Lord stirred up the spirit ofKoresh, King of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing."The same words occur in the beginning of the Book of Ezra, both referring to the sending home of the Jewsafter the fall of Babylon; the forty-sixth chapter of Isaiah also: "The Lord saith of Koresh, He is my shepherd,and shall perform all my pleasure."

Babylon was not at that time levelled with the ground, but became one of the capitals of the Persian Empire,where the Persian monarch resided for more than half the year Although the Babylonian Empire began withNabopolassar, B.C 625, on the destruction of Nineveh, yet Babylon was a very ancient city and the capital ofthe ancient Chaldaean monarchy, which lasted under various dynasties from about 2400 B.C to 1300 B.C.,when it was taken by the Assyrians under Tig Vathi-Nin The great Assyrian Empire, which thus absorbedancient Babylonia, lasted between six and seven hundred years, according to Herodotus, although recentdiscoveries and inscriptions make its continuance much longer, and was the dominant power of Asia duringthe most interesting period of Jewish history, until taken by Cyaxares the Median The limits of the empirevaried at different times, for the conquered States which composed it were held together by a precarioustenure But even in its greatest strength it was inferior in size and power to the Empire of Cyrus To checkrebellion, a source of constant trouble and weakness, the warlike monarchs were obliged to reconquer,imposing not only tribute and fealty, but overrunning the rebellious countries with fire and sword, and

carrying away captive to distant cities a large part of the population as slaves Thus at one time two hundredthousand Jews were transported to Assyria, and the "Ten Tribes" were scattered over the Eastern world, nevermore to return to Palestine

On the rebellion of Nabopolassar, in 625 B.C., Babylon recovered not only its ancient independence, but morethan its ancient prestige; yet the empire of which it was the capital lasted only about the same length of time

as Media and Lydia, the most powerful monarchies existing when Cyrus was born Babylon, however, duringits brief dominion, after having been subject to Assyria for seven hundred years, reappeared in unparalleledsplendor, and was probably the most magnificent capital the ancient world ever saw until Rome arose Evenafter its occupancy by the Persian monarchs for two hundred years, it called out the admiration of Herodotusand Alexander alike Its arts, its sciences, its manufactures, to say nothing of its palaces and temples, were theadmiration of travellers When the proud conqueror of Palestine beheld the magnificence he had created, littledid he dream that "this great Babylon which he had built" would become such a desolation that its very site

would be uncertain, a habitation for dragons, a dreary waste for owls and goats and wild beasts to occupy.

We should naturally suppose that Cyrus, with the kings of Asia prostrate before his satraps, would have beencontented to enjoy the fruits of his labors; but there is no limit to man's ambition Like Alexander, he soughtfor new worlds to conquer, and perished, as some historians maintain, in an unsuccessful war with someunknown barbarians on the northeastern boundaries of his empire, even as Caesar meditated a war with theParthians, where he might have perished, as Crassus did Unbounded as is human ambition, there is a limit tohuman aggrandizement Great conquerors are raised up by Providence to accomplish certain results forcivilization, and when these are attained, when their mission is ended, they often pass away

ingloriously, assassinated or defeated or destroyed by self-indulgence, as the case may be It seems to havebeen the mission of Cyrus to destroy the ascendency of the Semitic and Hamitic despotisms in western Asia,that a new empire might be erected by nobler races, who should establish a reign of law For the first time inAsia there was, on the accession of Cyrus to unlimited power, a recognition of justice, and the adoration ofone supreme deity ruling in goodness and truth

This may be the reason why Cyrus treated the captive Jews with so great generosity, since he recognized intheir Jehovah the Ahura-Mazda, the Supreme God that Zoroaster taught No political reason will account forsending back to Palestine thousands of captives with imperial presents, to erect once more their sacred Templeand rebuild their sacred city He and all the Persian monarchs were zealous adherents of the religion of

Zoroaster, the central doctrine of which was the unity of God and Divine Providence in the world, whichdoctrine neither Egyptian nor Babylonian nor Lydian monarchs recognized What a boon to humanity was therestoration of the Jews to their capital and country! We read of no oppression of the Jews by the Persianmonarchs Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister of such an effeminate monarch as Xerxes, whileDaniel before him had been the honored minister of Darius

Of all the Persian monarchs Cyrus was the best beloved Xenophon made him the hero of his philosophicalromance He is represented as the incarnation of "sweetness and light." When a mere boy he delights all withwhom he is brought into contact, by his wit and valor The king of Media accepts his reproofs and admires hiswisdom; the nobles of Media are won by his urbanity and magnanimity All historians praise his simple habitsand unbounded generosity In an age when polygamy was the vice of kings, he was contented with one wife,whom he loved and honored He rejected great presents, and thought it was better to give than to receive Hetreated women with delicacy and captives with magnanimity He conducted war with unknown mildness, andconverted the conquered into friends He exalted the dignity of labor, and scorned all baseness and lies Hispiety and manly virtues may have been exaggerated by his admirers, but what we do know of him fills us withadmiration Brilliant in intellect, lofty in character, he was an ideal man, fitted to be the guide of a noblenation whom he led to glory and honor Other warriors of world-wide fame have had, like him, great

excellencies, marred by glaring defects; but no vices or crimes are ascribed to Cyrus, such as stained thecharacters of David and Constantine The worst we can say of him is that he was ambitious, and delighted inconquest; but he was a conqueror raised up to elevate a religious race to a higher plane, and to find a field forthe development of their energies, whatever may be said of their subsequent degeneracy "The grandeur of hischaracter is well rendered in that brief and unassuming inscription of his, more eloquent in its lofty simplicitythan anything recorded by Assyrian and Babylonian kings: 'I am Kurush [Cyrus] the king, the Achaemenian.'"Whether he fell in battle, or died a natural death in one of his palaces, he was buried in the ancient but modestcapital of the ancient Persians, Pasargadae; and his tomb was intact in the time of Alexander, who visited it, asort of marble chapel raised on a marble platform thirty-six feet high, in which was deposited a gilt

sarcophagus, together with Babylonian tapestries, Persian weapons, and rare jewels of great value This wasthe inscription on his tomb: "O man, I am Kurush, the son of Kambujiya, who founded the greatness of Persiaand ruled Asia; grudge me not this monument."

Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who though not devoid of fine qualities was jealous and

tyrannical He caused his own brother Smerdis to be put to death He completed the conquests of his father byadding Egypt to his empire In a fit of remorse for the murder of his brother he committed suicide, and the

empire was usurped by a Magian impostor, called Gaumata, who claimed to be the second son of Cyrus Hisreign, however, was short, he being slain by Darius the son of Hystaspes, belonging to another branch of theroyal family Darius was a great general and statesman, who reorganized the empire and raised it to the zenith

of its power and glory It extended from the Greek islands on the west to India on the east This monarch evenpenetrated to the Danube with his armies, but made no permanent conquest in Europe He made Susa his chiefcapital, and also built Persepolis, the ruins of which attest its ancient magnificence It seems that he was adevout follower of Zoroaster, and ascribed his successes to the favor of Ahura-Mazda, the Supreme Deity

It was during the reign of Darius that Persia came in contact with Greece, in consequence of the revolt of theIonian cities of Asia Minor, which, however, was easily suppressed by the Persian satrap Then followed twoinvasions of Greece itself by the Persians under the generals of Darius, and their defeat at Marathon by

Miltiades

Darius was succeeded by Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of the Hebrew Scriptures, whose invasion of Greece with thelargest army the world ever saw properly belongs to Grecian history It was reserved for the heroes of Plataea

to teach the world the lesson that the strength of armies is not in multitudes but in discipline, a lesson

confirmed by the conquests of Alexander and Caesar

On the fall of the Persian Empire three hundred years after the fall of Babylon, and the establishment of theGreek rule in Asia under the generals of Alexander, Persia proper did not cease to be formidable Under theSassanian princes the ambition of the Achaemenians was revived Sapor defied Rome herself, and dragged theEmperor Valerian in disgraceful captivity to Ctesiphon, his capital Sapor II was the conqueror of the

Emperor Julian, and Chrosroes was an equally formidable adversary In the year 617 A.D Persian warriorsadvanced to the walls of Constantinople, and drove the Emperor Heraclius to despair

Thus Persia never lost wholly its ancient prestige, and still remains, after the rise and fall of so many

dynasties, and such great vicissitudes from Greek and Arab conquests, a powerful country twice the size ofGermany, under the rule of an independent prince There seems no likelihood of her ever again playing sogrand a part in the world's history as when, under the great Cyrus, she prepared the transfer of empire from theOrient to the Occident But "what has been, has been, and she has had her hour."

AUTHORITIES

Herodotus and Xenophon are our main authorities, though not to be fully relied upon Of modern worksRawlinson's Ancient Monarchies and Rawlinson's Herodotus are the most valuable Ragozin has writteninteresting books on Media, Persia, Assyria, and Chaldaea, making special note of the researches of Europeantravellers in the East Fergusson, Layard, Sayce, and George Smith have shed light on all this ancient region.Johnson's work is learned but indefinite Benjamin is the latest writer on the history of Persia; but a

satisfactory life of Cyrus has yet to be written

in his history of Frederick II But it is not an easy thing to reverse the verdict of the civilized world for two

thousand years, although a man of genius can say many interesting things and offer valuable suggestions.

In his Life of Caesar Mr Froude seems to vindicate Imperialism, not merely as a great necessity in the corrupttimes which succeeded the civil wars of Marius and Sulla, but as a good thing in itself It seems to me thatwhile there was a general tendency to Imperialism in the Roman world for one or two hundred years beforeChrist, the whole tendency of modern governments is against it, and has been since the second English

Revolution It still exists in Russia and Turkey, possibly in Germany and Austria; yet constitutional forms ofgovernment seem to be gradually taking its place What a change in England, France, Italy, and Spain duringthe last hundred years! what a breaking up of the old absolutism of the Bourbons! Even the imperialism ofNapoleon is held in detestation by a large class of the French nation

It may have been necessary for such a man as Caesar to arise when the Romans had already conquered a greatpart of the civilized world, and when the various provinces which composed the Empire needed a firm, stable,and uniform government in the hands of a single man, in order to promote peace and law, the first conditions

of human society But it is one thing to recognize the majesty of divine Providence in furnishing a remedy forthe peculiar evils of an age or people, and quite another thing to make this remedy a panacea for all the futureconditions of nations If we believe in the moral government of this world by a divine and supreme

Intelligence whom we call God, then it is not difficult to see in Julius Caesar, after nearly two thousand years,

an instrument of Providence like Constantine, Charlemagne, Richelieu, and Napoleon himself It mattersnothing whether Caesar was good or bad, whether he was a patriot or a usurper, so far as his ultimate

influence is concerned, if he was the instrument of an overruling Power; for God chooses such instruments as

he pleases Even in human governments it is sometimes expedient to employ rogues in order to catch rogues,

or to head off some peculiar evil that honest people do not know how to manage But because a bad man isselected by a higher power to do some peculiar work, it does not follow that this bad man should be praisedfor doing it, especially if the work is good only so far as it is overruled Both human consciousness andChristianity declare that it is a crime to shed needless and innocent blood If ambition prompts a man todestroy his rivals and fill the world with miseries in order to climb to supreme power, then it is an insult to thehuman understanding to make this ambition synonymous with patriotism A successful conqueror may befar-sighted and enlightened, whatever his motives for conquest; but because he is enlightened, it does notfollow that he fights battles with the supreme view of benefiting his country, like William III and GeorgeWashington He may have taken the sword chiefly to elevate himself; or, after having taken the sword with aview of rendering important services, and having rendered these services, he may have been diverted from hisoriginal intentions, and have fought for the gratification of personal ambition, losing sight utterly of the cause

in which he embarked

Now this is the popular view which the world has taken of Caesar Shakspeare may have been unjust in hisverdict; but it is a verdict which has been sustained by most writers and by popular sentiment during the lastthree hundred years It was also the verdict of Cicero, of the Roman Senate, and of ancient historians It is one

of my objects to show in this lecture how far this verdict is just It is another object to point out the services ofCaesar to the State, which, however great and honestly to be praised, do not offset crime

Caius Julius Caesar belonged to one of the proudest and most ancient of the patrician families of Rome, a

branch of the gens Julia, which claimed a descent from Iules, the son of Aeneas His father, Caius Julius,

married Aurelia, a noble matron of the Cotta family, and his aunt Julia married the great Marius; so that,though he was a patrician of the purest blood, his family alliances were either plebeian or on the liberal side inpolitics He was born one hundred years before Christ, and received a good education, but was not precocious,like Cicero There was nothing remarkable about his childhood "He was a tall and handsome man, with dark,piercing eyes, sallow complexion, large nose, full lips, refined and intellectual features, and thick neck." Hewas particular about his appearance, and showed a studied negligence of dress His uncle Marius, in the height

of his power, marked him out for promotion, and made him a priest of Jupiter when he was fourteen years old

On the death of his father, a man of praetorian rank, and therefore a senator, at the age of seventeen Caesarmarried Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, which connected him still more closely with the popular party He

was only a few years younger than Cicero and Pompey When he was eighteen he attracted the notice of Sulla,then dictator, who wished him to divorce his wife and take such a one as he should propose, which the youngman, at the risk of his life, refused to do This boldness and independence of course displeased the Dictator,who predicted his future "In this young Caesar," said he, "there are many Mariuses;" but he did not kill him,owing to the intercession of powerful friends.

The career of Caesar may be divided into three periods, during each of which he appeared in a different light:the first, until he began the conquest of Gaul, at the age of forty-three; the second, the time of his militaryexploits in Gaul, by which he rendered great services and gained popularity and fame; and the third, that of hiscivil wars, dictatorship, and imperial reign

In the first period of his life, for about twenty-five years, he made a mark indeed, but rendered no memorableservices to the State and won no especial fame Had he died at the age of forty-three, his name would probablynot have descended to our times, except as a leading citizen, a good lawyer, and powerful debater He sawmilitary service, almost as a matter of course; but he was not particularly distinguished as a general, nor did heselect the military profession He was eloquent, aspiring, and able, as a young patrician; but, like Cicero, itwould seem that he sought the civil service, and made choice of the law, by which to rise in wealth and power

He was a politician from the first; and his ambition was to get a seat in the Senate, like all other able andambitious men Senators were not hereditary, however nobly born, but gained their seats by election to certainhigh offices in the gift of the people, called curule offices, which entitled them to senatorial position anddignity A seat in the Senate was the great object of Roman ambition; because the Senate was the leadingpower of the State, and controlled the army, the treasury, religious worship, and the provinces The governorsand ambassadors, as well as the dictators, were selected by this body of aristocrats In fact, to the Senate wasintrusted the supreme administration of the Empire, although the source of power was technically and

theoretically in the people, or those who had the right of suffrage; and as the people elected those magistrateswhose offices entitled them to a seat in the Senate, the Senate was virtually elected by the people Senatorsheld their places for life, but could be weeded out by the censors And as the Senate in its best days containedbetween three and four hundred men, not all the curule magistrates could enter it, unless there were vacancies;but a selection from them was made by the censors So the Senate, in all periods of the Roman Republic, wascomposed of experienced men, of those who had previously held the great offices of State

To gain a seat in the Senate, therefore, it was necessary to be elected by the people to one of the great

magistracies In the early ages of the Republic the people were incorruptible; but when foreign conquest,slavery, and other influences demoralized them, they became venal and sold their votes Hence only rich men,ordinarily, were elected to high office; and the rich men, as a rule, belonged to the old families So the Senatewas made up not only of experienced men, but of the aristocracy There were rich men outside the

Senate, successful plebeians, men who had made fortunes by trade, bankers, monopolists, and others; butthese, if ambitious of social position or political influence, became gradually absorbed among the senatorialfamilies Those who could afford to buy the votes of the people, and those only, became magistrates andsenators Hence the demagogues were rich men and belonged to the highest ranks, like Clodius and Catiline

It thus happened that, when Julius Caesar came upon the stage, the aristocracy controlled the elections Thepeople were indeed sovereign; but they abdicated their power to those who would pay the most for it Theconstitution was popular in name; in reality it was aristocratic, since only rich men (generally noble) could beelected to office Rome was ruled by aristocrats, who became rich as the people became poor The greatsource of senatorial wealth was in the control of the provinces The governors were chosen by the Senate andfrom the Senate; and it required only one or two years to make a fortune as a governor, like Verres Theultimate cause which threw power into the hands of the rich and noble was the venality of the people Thearistocratic demagogues bought them, in the same way that rich monopolists in our day control legislatures.The people are too numerous in this country to be directly bought up, even if it were possible, and the prizesthey confer are not high enough to tempt rich men, as they did in Rome

A man, therefore, who would rise to power at Rome must necessarily bribe the people, must purchase theirvotes, unless he was a man of extraordinary popularity, some great orator like Cicero, or successful generallike Marius or Sulla; and it was difficult to get popularity except as a lawyer and orator, or as a general.Caesar, like Cicero and Hortensius, chose the law as a means of rising in the world; for, though of ancientfamily, he was not rich He must make money by his profession, or he must borrow it, if he would secureoffice It seems he borrowed it How he contrived to borrow such vast sums as he spent on elections, I do notknow He probably made friends of rich men like Crassus, who became security for him He was in debt to theamount of $1,500,000 of our money before he held office He was a bold political gambler, and played forhigh stakes It would seem that he had very winning and courteous manners, though he was not distinguishedfor popular oratory His terse and pregnant sentences, however, won the admiration of his friend Cicero, abrother lawyer, and he was very social and hospitable He was on the liberal side in politics, and attacked theabuses of the day, which won him popular favor At first he lived in a modest house with his wife and mother,

in the Subarra, without attracting much notice The first office to which he was elected was that of a MilitaryTribune, soon after his sojourn of two years in Rhodes to learn from Apollonius the arts of oratory His nextoffice was that of Quaestor, which enabled him to enter the Senate, at the age of thirty-two; and his thirdoffice, that of Aedile, which gave him the control of the public buildings: the Aediles were expected to

decorate the city, and this gave him opportunities of cultivating popularity by splendor and display The firstthing which brought him into notice as an orator was a funeral oration he pronounced on his Aunt Julia, thewidow of Marius The next fortunate event of his life was his marriage with Pompeia, a cousin of Pompey,who was then the foremost man in Rome, having distinguished himself in Spain and in putting down the slaveinsurrection under Spartacus; but Pompey's great career in the East had not yet commenced, so that the futurerivals at that time were friends Caesar glorified Pompey in the Senate, which by virtue of his office he hadlately entered The next step to greatness was his election by the people through the use of immense amounts

of borrowed money to the great office of Pontifex Maximus, which made him the pagan Pope of Rome forlife, with a grand palace to live in Soon after he was made Praetor, which office entitled him to a provincialgovernment; and he was sent by the Senate to Spain as Pro-praetor, completed the conquest of the peninsula,and sent to Borne vast sums of money These services entitled him to a triumph; but, as he presented himself

at the same time as a candidate for the consulship, he was obliged to forego the triumph, and was electedConsul without opposition: his vanity ever yielded to his ambition

Thus far there was nothing remarkable in Caesar's career He had risen by power of money, like other

aristocrats, to the highest offices of the State, showing abilities indeed, but not that extraordinary genius whichhas made him immortal He was the leader of the political party which Sulla had put down, and yet was not arevolutionist like the Gracchi He was an aristocratic reformer, like Lord John Russell before the passage ofthe Reform Bill, whom the people adored He was a liberal, but not a radical Of course he was not a favoritewith the senators, who wished to perpetuate abuses He was intensely disliked by Cato, a most excellent andhonest man, but narrow-minded and conservative, a sort of Duke of Wellington without his military abilities.The Senate would make no concessions, would part with no privileges, and submit to no changes Like LordEldon, it "adhered to what was established, because it was established."

Caesar, as Consul, began his administration with conciliation; and he had the support of Crassus with hismoney, and of Pompey as the representative of the army, who was then flushed with his Eastern

conquests, pompous, vain, and proud, but honest and incorruptible Cicero stood aloof, the greatest man inthe Senate, whose aristocratic privileges he defended He might have aided Caesar "in the speaking

department;" but as a "new man" he was jealous of his prerogatives, and was always conservative, like Burke,whom he resembled in his eloquence and turn of mind and fondness for literature and philosophy Failing toconciliate the aristocrats, Caesar became a sort of Mirabeau, and appealed to the people, causing them to passhis celebrated "Leges Juliae," or reform bills; the chief of which was the "land act," which conferred portions

of the public lands on Pompey's disbanded soldiers for settlement, a wise thing, which senators opposed,since it took away their monopoly Another act required the provincial governors, on their return from office,

to render an account of their stewardship and hand in their accounts for public inspection The Julian Laws

also were designed to prevent the plunder of the public revenues, the debasing of the coin, the bribery ofjudges and of the people at elections There were laws also for the protection of citizens from violence, andsundry other reforms which were enlightened and useful In the passage of these laws against the will of the

Senate, we see that the people were still recognized as sovereign in legislation The laws were good All

depended on their execution; and the Senate, as the administrative body, could practically defeat their

operation when Caesar's term of office expired; and this it unwisely determined to do The last thing it wishedwas any reform whatever; and, as Mr Froude thinks, there must have been either reform or revolution Butthis is not so clear to me Aristocracy was all-powerful when money could buy the people, and when thepeople had no virtue, no ambition, no intelligence The struggle at Rome in the latter days of the Republic wasnot between the people and the aristocracy, but between the aristocracy and the military chieftains on oneside, and those demagogues whom it feared on the other The result showed that the aristocracy feared anddistrusted Caesar; and he used the people only to advance his own ends, of course, in the name of reform andpatriotism And when he became Dictator, he kicked away the ladder on which he climbed to power It wasImperialism that he established; neither popular rights nor aristocratic privileges He had no more love of thepeople than he had of those proud aristocrats who afterwards murdered him

But the empire of the world to which Caesar at that time may, or may not, have aspired: who can tell? butprobably not was not to be gained by civil services, or reforms, or arguments in law courts, or by holdinggreat offices, or haranguing the people at the rostrum, or making speeches in the Senate, where he was hatedfor his liberal views and enlightened mind, rather than from any fear of his overturning the constitution, but

by military services and heroic deeds and the devotion of a tried and disciplined regular army Caesar wasnow forty-three years of age, being in the full maturity of his powers At the close of his term as Consul hesought a province where military talents were indispensable, and where he could have a long term of office.The Senate gave him the "woods and forests," an unsubdued country, where he would have hard work andunknown perils, and from which it was probable he would never return They sent him to Gaul But this wasjust the field for his marvellous military genius, then only partially developed; and the second period of hiscareer now began

It was during this second period that he rendered his most important services to the State and earned hisgreatest fame The dangers which threatened the Empire came from the West, and not the East Asia wasalready-subdued by Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey, or was on the point of being subdued Mithridates was aformidable enemy; but he aimed at establishing an Asiatic empire, not conquering the European provinces Hewas not so dangerous as even Pyrrhus had been Moreover, the conquest of the East was comparativelyeasy, over worn-out races and an effete civilization; it gave _éclat_ to Sulla and Pompey, as the conquest ofIndia, with a handful of British troops, made Clive and Hastings famous; it required no remarkable militarygenius, nor was it necessary for the safety of Italy Conquest over the Oriental monarchies meant only

spoliation It was prompted by greed and vanity more than by a sense of danger Pompey brought back moneyenough from the East to enrich all his generals, and the Senate besides, or rather the State, which a fewaristocrats practically owned

But the conquest of Gaul would be another affair It was peopled with hardy races, who cast their greedy eyes

on the empire of the Romans, or on some of its provinces, and who were being pushed forward to invasion by

a still braver people beyond the Rhine, races kindred to those Teutons whom Marius had defeated There was

no immediate danger from the Germans; but there was ultimate danger, as proved by the union they made inthe time of Marcus Antoninus for the invasion of the Roman provinces It was necessary to raise a barrieragainst their inundations It was also necessary to subdue the various Celtic tribes of Gaul, who were gettingrestless and uneasy There was no money in a conquest over barbarians, except so far as they could be soldinto slavery; but there was danger in it The whole country was threatened with insurrections, leagues, andinvasion, from the Alps to the ocean There was a confederacy of hostile kings and chieftains; they

commanded innumerable forces; they controlled important posts and passes The Gauls had long made fixedsettlements, and had built bridges and fortresses They were not so warlike as the Germans; but they were yetformidable enemies United, they were like "a volcano giving signs of approaching eruption; and at any

moment, and hardly without warning, another lava stream might be poured down Venetia and Lombardy."

To rescue the Empire from such dangers was the work of Caesar; and it was no small undertaking The Senate

had given him unlimited power, for five years, over Gaul, then a terra incognita, an indefinite country,

comprising the modern States of France, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, and a part of Germany Afterwardthe Senate extended the governorship five years more; so difficult was the work of conquest, and so

formidable were the enemies But it was danger which Caesar loved The greater the obstacles the better was

he pleased, and the greater was the scope for his genius, which at first was not appreciated, for the best part

of his life had been passed in Rome as a lawyer and orator and statesman But he had a fine constitution,robust health, temperate habits, and unbounded energies He was free to do as he liked with several legions,and had time to perfect his operations And his legions were trained to every kind of labor and hardship Theycould build bridges, cut down forests, and drain swamps, as well as march with a weight of eighty pounds tothe man They could make their own shoes, mend their own clothes, repair their own arms, and construct theirown tents They were as familiar with the axe and spade as they were with the lance and sword They wereinured to every kind of danger and difficulty, and not one of them was personally braver than the general wholed them, or more skilful in riding a horse, or fording a river, or climbing a mountain No one of them could

be more abstemious Luxury is not one of the peculiarities of successful generals in barbaric countries

To give a minute sketch of the various encounters with the different tribes and nations that inhabited the vastcountry he was sent to conquer and govern, would be impossible in a lecture like this One must read Caesar'sown account of his conflicts with Helvetii, Aedui, Remi, Nervii, Belgae, Veneti, Arverni, Aquitani, Ubii,Eubueones, Treveri, and other nations between the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rhine, and the sea Their numberswere immense, and they were well armed, and had cavalry, military stores, efficient leaders, and indomitablecourage When beaten in one place they sprang up in another, like the Saxons with whom Charlemagnecontended They made treaties only to break them They fought with the desperation of heroes who had theirwives and children, firesides and altars, to guard; yet against them Caesar was uniformly successful He was attimes in great peril, yet he never lost but one battle, and this through the fault of his generals Yet he had ablegenerals, whom he selected himself, Labienus, who afterwards deserted him, Antony, Publius Crassus, Cotta,Sabinus, all belonging to the aristocracy They made mistakes, but Caesar never They would often havebeen cut off but for Caesar's timely aid

When we consider the dangers to which he was constantly exposed, the amazing difficulties he had to

surmount, the hardships he had to encounter, the fears he had to allay, the murmurs he was obliged to silence,the rivers he was compelled to cross in the face of enemies, the forests it was necessary to penetrate, theswamps and mountains and fortresses which impeded his marches, we are amazed at his skill and intrepidity,

to say nothing of his battles with forces ten times more numerous than his own His fertility of resources, hislightning rapidity of movement, his sagacity and insight, his perfection of discipline, his careful husbandry offorces, his ceaseless diligence, his intrepid courage, the confidence with which he inspired his soldiers, hisbrilliant successes (victory after victory), with the enormous number of captives by which he and the Statebecame enriched, all these things dazzled his countrymen, and gave him a fame such as no general had everearned before He conquered a population of warriors to be numbered by millions, with no aid from charts andmaps, exposed perpetually to treachery and false information He had to please and content an army a

thousand miles from home, without supplies, except such as were precarious, living on the plainest food, anddoomed to infinite labors and drudgeries, besides attacking camps and assaulting fortresses, and fightingpitched battles Yet he won their love, their respect, and their admiration, and by an urbanity, a kindness, and

a careful protection of their interests, such as no general ever showed before He was a hero performingperpetual wonders, as chivalrous as the knights of the Middle Ages No wonder he was adored, like a Moses

in the wilderness, like a Napoleon in his early conquests

This conquest of Gaul, during which he drove the Germans back to their forests, and inaugurated a policy ofconciliation and moderation which made the Gauls the faithful allies of Rome, and their country its mostfertile and important province, furnishing able men both for the Senate and the Army, was not only a great

feat of genius, but a great service a transcendent service to the State, which entitled Caesar to a magnificentreward Had it been cordially rendered to him, he might have been contented with a sort of perpetual

consulship, and with the éclat of being the foremost man of the Empire The people would have given himanything in their power to give, for he was as much an idol to them as Napoleon became to the Parisians afterthe conquest of Italy He had rendered services as brilliant as those of Scipio, of Marius, of Sulla, or of

Pompey If he did not save Italy from being subsequently overrun by barbarians, he postponed their irruptionsfor two hundred years And he had partially civilized the country he had subdued, and introduced Romaninstitutions He had also created an army of disciplined veterans, such as never before was seen He perfectedmilitary mechanism, that which kept the Empire together after all vitality had fled He was the greatest master

of the art of war known to antiquity Such transcendent military excellence and such great services entitledhim to the gratitude and admiration of the whole Empire, although he enriched himself and his soldiers withthe spoils of his ten years' war, and did not, so far as I can see, bring great sums into the national treasury

But the Senate was reluctant to give him the customary rewards for ten years' successful war, and for addingWestern Europe to the Empire It was jealous of his greatness and his renown It also feared him, for he hadeleven legions in his pay, and was known to be ambitious It hated him for two reasons: first, because in hisfirst consulship he had introduced reforms, and had always sided with the popular and liberal party; andsecondly, because military successes of unprecedented brilliancy had made him dangerous So, on the

conclusion of the conquest of Gaul, it withdrew two legions from his army, and sought to deprive him of hispromised second consulate, and even to recall him before his term of office as governor was expired In otherwords, it sought to cripple and disarm him, and raise his rival, Pompey, over him in the command of theforces of the Empire

It was now secret or open war, not between Caesar and the Roman people, but between Caesar and the

Senate, between a great and triumphant general and the Roman oligarchy of nobles, who, for nearly fivehundred years, had ruled the Empire On the side of Caesar were the army, the well-to-do classes, and thepeople; on the side of the Senate were the forces which a powerful aristocracy could command, having theprestige of law and power and wealth, and among whom were the great names of the republic

Mr Froude ridicules and abuses this aristocracy, as unfit longer to govern the State, as a worn-out power thatdeserved to fall He uniformly represents them as extravagant, selfish, ostentatious, luxurious, frivolous,Epicurean in opinions and in life, oppressive in all their social relations, haughty beyond endurance, andcontrolling the popular elections by means of bribery and corruption It would be difficult to refute thesecharges The Patricians probably gave themselves up to all the pleasures incident to power and unboundedwealth, in a corrupt and wicked age They had their palaces in the city and their villas in the country, theirparks and gardens, their fish-ponds and game-preserves, their pictures and marbles, their expensive furnitureand costly ornaments, gold and silver vessels, gems and precious works of art They gave luxurious banquets;they travelled like princes; they were a body of kings, to whom the old monarchs of conquered provincesbowed down in fear and adulation All this does not prove that they were incapable, although they governedfor the interests of their class They were all experienced in affairs of State, most of them had been quaestors,aediles, praetors, censors, tribunes, consuls, and governors Most of them were highly educated, had travelledextensively, were gentlemanly in their manners, could make speeches in the Senate, and could fight on thefield of battle when there was a necessity They doubtless had the common vices of the rich and proud; butmany of them were virtuous, patriotic, incorruptible, almost austere in morals, dignified and intellectual,whom everybody respected, men like Cato, Brutus, Cassius, Cicero, and others Their sin was that theywished to conserve their powers, privileges, and fortunes, like all aristocracies, like the British House ofLords Nor must it be forgotten that it was under their régime that the conquest of the world was made, andthat Rome had become the centre of everything magnificent and glorious on the earth

It was doubtless shortsighted and ungrateful in these nobles to attempt to deprive Caesar of his laurels and hispromised consulship He had earned them by grand services, both as a general and a statesman But theirjealousy and hatred were not unnatural They feared, not unreasonably, that the successful general rich,

proud, and dictatorial from the long exercise of power, and seated in the chair of supremest dignity wouldmake sweeping changes; might reduce their authority to a shadow, and elevate himself to perpetual

dictatorship; and thus, by substituting imperialism for aristocracy, subvert the Constitution That is evidentlywhat Cicero feared, as appears in his letters to Atticus That is what all the leading Senators feared, especiallyCato It was known that Caesar although urbane, merciful, enlightened, hospitable, and disposed to governfor the public good was unscrupulous in the use of tools; that he had originally gained his seat in the Senate

by bribery and demagogic arts; that he was reckless as to debts, regarding money only as a means to buysupporters; that he had appropriated vast sums from the spoils of war for his own use, and, from being poor,had become the richest man in the Empire; that he had given his daughter Julia in marriage to Pompey frompolitical ends; that he was long-sighted in his ambition, and would be content with nothing less than thegratification of this insatiate passion All this was known, and it gave great solicitude to the leaders of thearistocracy, who resolved to put him down, to strip him of his power, or fight him, if necessary, in a civilwar So the aristocracy put themselves under the protection of Pompey, a successful but overrated general,who also aimed at supreme power, with the nobles as his supporters, not perhaps as Imperator, but as theagent and representative of a subservient Senate, in whose name he would rule

This contest between Caesar and the aristocracy under the lead of Pompey, its successful termination inCaesar's favor, and his brilliant reign of about four years, as Dictator and Imperator, constitute the third period

of his memorable career

Neither Caesar nor Pompey would disband their legions, as it was proposed by Curio in the Senate and voted

by a large majority In fact, things had arrived at a crisis: Caesar was recalled, and he must obey the Senate, or

be decreed a public enemy; that is, the enemy of the power that ruled the State He would not obey, and ageneral levy of troops in support of the Senate was made, and put into the hands of Pompey with unlimitedcommand The Tribunes of the people, however, sided with Caesar, and refused confirmation of the Senatorialdecrees Caesar then no longer hesitated, but with his army crossed the Rubicon, which was an insignificantstream, but was the Rome-ward boundary of his province This was the declaration of civil war It was now

"'either anvil or hammer." The admirers of Caesar claim that his act was a necessity, at least a public benefit,

on the ground of the misrule of the aristocracy But it does not appear that there was anarchy at Rome,

although Milo had killed Clodius There were aristocratic feuds, as in the Middle Ages Order and law thefirst conditions of society were not in jeopardy, as in the French Revolution, when Napoleon arose Thepeople were not in hostile array against the nobles, nor the nobles against the people The nobles only courtedand bribed the people; but so general was corruption that a change in government was deemed necessary bythe advocates of Caesar, at least they defended it The gist of all the arguments in favor of the revolution is:better imperialism than an oligarchy of corrupt nobles It is not my province to settle that question It is mywork only to describe events

It is clear that Caesar resolved on seizing supreme power, in taking it away from the nobles, on the groundprobably that he could rule better than they, the plea of Napoleon, the plea of Cromwell, the plea of allusurpers

But this supreme power he could not exercise until he had conquered Pompey and the Senate and all hisenemies It must need be that "he should wade through slaughter to his throne." This alternative was forced onhim, and he accepted it He accepted civil war in order to reign At best, he would do evil that good mightcome He was doubtless the strongest man in the world; and, according to Mr Carlyle's theory, the strongestought to rule

Much has been said about the rabble, the democracy, their turbulence, corruption, and degradation, theirunfitness to rule, and all that sort of thing, which I regard as irrelevant, so far as the usurpation of Caesar isconcerned; since the struggle was not between them and the nobles, but between a fortunate general and thearistocracy who controlled the State Caesar was not the representative of the people or of their interests, asTiberius Gracchus was, but the representative of the Army He had no more sympathy with the people than he

had with the nobles: he probably despised them both, as unfit to rule He flattered the people and bought them,but he did not love them It was his soldiers whom he loved, next to himself; although, as a wise and

enlightened statesman, he wished to promote the great interests of the nation, so far as was consistent with theenjoyment of imperial rule This friend of the people would give them spectacles and shows, largesses ofcorn, money, even, and extension of the suffrage, but not political power He was popular with them,because he was generous and merciful, because his exploits won their admiration, and his vast public worksgave employment to them and adorned their city

It is unnecessary to dwell on the final contest of Caesar with the nobles, with Pompey at their head, sincenothing is more familiar in history Plainly he was not here rendering public services, as he did in Spain andGaul, but taking care of his own interests I cannot see how a civil war was a service, unless it were a service

to destroy the aristocratic constitution and substitute imperialism, which some think was needed with the vastextension of the Empire, and for the good administration of the provinces, robbed and oppressed by thegovernors whom the Senate had sent out to enrich the aristocracy It may have been needed for the betteradministration of justice, for the preservation of law and order, and a more efficient central power Absolutismmay have proved a benefit to the Empire, as it proved a benefit to France under Cardinal Richelieu, when hehumiliated the nobles If so, it was only a choice of evils, for absolutism is tyranny, and tyranny is not ablessing, except in a most demoralized state of society, which it is claimed was the state of Rome at the time

of the usurpation of Caesar It is certain that the whole united strength of the aristocracy could not prevail overCaesar, although it had Pompey for its defender, with his immense prestige and experience as a general.After Caesar had crossed the Rubicon, and it was certain he would march to Rome and seize the reins ofgovernment, the aristocracy fled precipitately to Pompey's wing at Capua, fearing to find in Caesar anotherMarius Pompey did not show extraordinary ability in the crisis He had no courage and no purpose He fled toBrundusium, where ships were waiting to transport his army to Durazzo He was afraid to face his rival inItaly Caesar would have pursued, but had no navy He therefore went to Rome, which he had not seen for tenyears, took what money he wanted from the treasury, and marched to Spain, where the larger part of Pompey'sarmy, under his lieutenants, were now arrayed against him These it was necessary first to subdue But Caesarprevailed, and all Spain was soon at his feet His successes were brilliant; and Gaul, Italy, Sicily, and Sardiniawere wholly his own, as well as Spain, which was Pompey's province He then rapidly returned to Rome, wasnamed Dictator, and as such controlled the consular election, and was chosen Consul But Pompey held theEast, and, with his ships, controlled the Mediterranean, and was gathering forces for the invasion of Italy.Caesar allowed himself but eleven days in Rome It was necessary to meet Pompey before that general couldreturn to Italy It was mid-winter, about a year after he had crossed the Rubicon He had with him only thirtythousand men, but these were veterans Pompey had nine full Roman legions, which lay at Durazzo, opposite

to Brundusium, besides auxiliaries and unlimited means; but he was hampered by senatorial civilians, and hislegions were only used to Eastern warfare He also controlled the sea, so that it was next to impossible forCaesar to embark without being defeated Yet Caesar did cross the sea amid overwhelming obstacles, and theresult was the battle of Pharsalia, deemed one of the decisive battles of the world, although the forces of thecombatants were comparatively small It was gained by the defeat of Pompey's cavalry by a fourth line of thebest soldiers of Caesar, which was kept in reserve Pompey, on the defeat of his cavalry, upon whom he hadbased his hopes, lost heart and fled He fled to the sea, uncertain, vacillating, and discouraged, and sailed forEgypt, relying on the friendship of the young king; but was murdered treacherously before he set foot uponthe land His fate was most tragical His fall was overwhelming

This battle, in which the flower of the Roman aristocracy succumbed to the conqueror of Gaul, with vastlyinferior forces, did not end the desperate contest Two more bloody battles were fought one in Africa and one

in Spain before the supremacy of Caesar was secured The battle of Thapsus, between Utica and Carthage, atwhich the Roman nobles once more rallied under Cato and Labienus, and the battle of Munda, in Spain, themost bloody of all, gained by Caesar over the sons of Pompey, settled the civil war and made Caesar supreme

He became supreme only by the sacrifice of half of the Roman nobility and the death of their principal

leaders, Pompey, Labienus, Lentulus, Ligarius, Metellus, Scipio Afrarius, Cato, Petreius, and others In one

sense it was the contest between Pompey and Caesar for the empire of the world Cicero said, "The success ofthe one meant massacre, and that of the other slavery," for if Pompey had prevailed, the aristocracy wouldhave butchered their enemies with unrelenting vengeance; but Caesar hated unnecessary slaughter, and soughtonly power In another sense it was the struggle between a single man with enlightened views and vastdesigns and the Roman aristocracy, hostile to reforms, and bent on greed and oppression The success ofCaesar was favorable to the restoration of order and law and progressive improvements; the success of thenobility would have entailed a still more grinding oppression of the people, and possibly anarchy and futureconflicts between fortunate generals and the aristocracy Destiny or Providence gave the empire of the world

to a single man, although that man was as unscrupulous as he was able

Henceforth imperialism was the form of government in Rome, which lasted about four hundred years Howlong an aristocratic government would have lasted is a speculation Caesar, in his elevation to unlimitedpower, used his power beneficently He pardoned his enemies, gave security to property and life, restored thefinances, established order, and devoted himself to useful reforms He cut short the grant of corn to the citizenmob; he repaired the desolation which war had made; he rebuilt cities and temples; he even endeavored tocheck luxury and extravagance and improve morals He reformed the courts of law, and collected libraries inevery great city He put an end to the expensive tours of senators in the provinces, where they had appeared asprinces exacting contributions He formed a plan to drain the Pontine Marshes He reformed the calendar,making the year to begin with the first day of January He built new public buildings, which the enlargement

of business required He seemed to have at heart the welfare of the State and of the people, by whom he wasadored But he broke up the political ascendancy of nobles, although he did not confiscate their property Heweakened the Senate by increasing its numbers to nine hundred, and by appointing senators himself from hisarmy and from the provinces, those who would be subservient to him, who would vote what he decreed.Caesar's ruling passion was ambition, thirst of power; but he had no great animosities He pardoned his worstenemies, Brutus, Cassius, and Cicero, who had been in arms against him; nor did he reign as a tyrant Hishabits were simple and unostentatious He gave easy access to his person, was courteous in his manners, andmingled with senators as a companion rather than as a master Like Charlemagne, he was temperate in eatingand drinking, and abhorred gluttony and drunkenness, the vices of the aristocracy and of fortunate plebeiansalike He was indefatigable in business, and paid attention to all petitions He was economical in his personalexpenses, although he lavished vast sums upon the people in the way of amusing or bribing them He

dispensed with guards and pomps, and was apparently reckless of his life: anything was better to him than tolive in perpetual fear of conspirators and traitors There never was a braver man, and he was ever kind-hearted

to those who did not stand in his way He was generous, magnanimous, and unsuspicious He was the model

of an absolute prince, aside from laxity of morals In regard to women, of their virtue he made little account.His favorite mistress was Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus Some have even supposed that Brutuswas Caesar's son, which accounts for his lenity and forbearance and affection He was the high-priest of theRoman worship, and yet he believed neither in the gods nor in immortality But he was always the

gentleman, natural, courteous, affable, without vanity or arrogance or egotism He was not a patriot in thesense that Cicero and Cato were, or Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, since his country was made subservient tohis own interests and aggrandizement Yet he was a very interesting man, and had fewer faults than Napoleon,with equally grand designs

But even he could not escape a retribution, in spite of his exalted position and his great services The leaders

of the aristocracy still hated him, and could not be appeased for the overthrow of their power They resolved

to assassinate him, from vengeance rather than fear Cicero was not among the conspirators; because hisdiscretion could not be relied upon, and they passed him by But his heart was with them "There are manyways," said he, "in which a man may die." It was not a wise thing to take his life; since the Constitution wasalready subverted, and somebody would reign as imperator by means of the army, and his death would

necessarily lead to renewed civil wars and new commotions and new calamities But angry, embittered, andpassionate enemies do not listen to reason They will not accept the inevitable There was no way to get rid ofCaesar but by assassination, and no one wished him out of the way but the nobles Hence it was easy for them

to form a conspiracy It was easy to stab him with senatorial daggers Caesar was not killed because he hadpersonal enemies, nor because he destroyed the liberties of Roman citizens, but because he had usurped theauthority of the aristocracy.

Yet he died, perhaps at the right time, at the age of fifty-six, after an undisputed reign of only three or fouryears, about the length of that of Cromwell He was already bending under the infirmities of a premature oldage Epileptic fits had set in, and his constitution was undermined by his unparalleled labors and fatigues; andthen his restless mind was planning a new expedition to Parthia, where he might have ingloriously perishedlike Crassus But such a man could not die His memory and deeds lived He filled a role in history, whichcould not be forgotten He inaugurated a successful revolution He bequeathed a policy to last as long as theEmpire lasted; and he had rendered services of the greatest magnitude, by which he is to be ultimately judged,

as well as by his character It is impossible for us to settle whether or not his services overbalanced the evils ofthe imperialism he established and of the civil wars by which he reached supreme command Whatever view

we may take of the comparative merits of an aristocracy or an imperial despotism in a corrupt age, we cannotdeny to Caesar some transcendent services and a transcendent fame The whole matter is laid before us in thelanguage of Cicero to Caesar himself, in the Senate, when he was at the height of his power; which shows thatthe orator was not lacking in courage any more than in foresight and moral wisdom:

"Your life, Caesar, is not that which is bounded by the union of your soul and body Your life is that whichshall continue fresh in the memory of ages to come, which posterity will cherish and eternity itself keep guardover Much has been done by you which men will admire; much remains to be done which they can praise.They will read with wonder of empires and provinces, of the Rhine, the ocean, and the Nile, of battles withoutnumber, of amazing victories, of countless monuments and triumphs; but unless the Commonwealth be wiselyre-established in institutions by you bestowed upon us, your name will travel widely over the world, but will

have no fixed habitation; and those who come after you will dispute about you as we have disputed Some will

extol you to the skies; others will find something wanting, and the most important element of all Rememberthe tribunal before which you are to stand The ages that are to be will try you, it may be with minds lessprejudiced than ours, uninfluenced either by the desire to please you or by envy of your greatness."

Thus spoke Cicero with heroic frankness The ages have "disputed about" Caesar, and will continue to disputeabout him, as they do about Cromwell and Napoleon; but the man is nothing to us in comparison with theideas which he fought or which he supported, and which have the same force to-day as they had nearly twothousand years ago He is the representative of imperialism; which few Americans will defend, unless itbecomes a necessity which every enlightened patriot admits The question is, whether it was or was not anecessity at Rome fifty years before Christ was born It is not easy to settle in regard to the benefit that Caesar

is supposed by some including Mr Froude and the late Emperor of the French to have rendered to the cause

of civilization by overturning the aristocratic Constitution, and substituting, not the rule of the people, but that

of a single man It is still one of the speculations of history; it is not one of its established facts, although theopinions of enlightened historians seem to lean to the necessity of the Caesarian imperialism, in view of themisrule of the aristocracy and the abject venality of the citizens who had votes to sell But it must be borne inmind that it was under the aristocratic rule of senators and patricians that Rome went on from conquering toconquer; that the governing classes were at all times the most intelligent, experienced, and efficient in theCommonwealth; that their very vices may have been exaggerated; and that the imperialism which crushedthem, may also have crushed out original genius, literature, patriotism, and exalted sentiments, and even failed

to have produced greater personal security than existed under the aristocratic Constitution at any period of itsexistence All these are disputed points of history It may be that Caesar, far from being a national benefactor

by reorganizing the forces of the Empire, sowed the seeds of ruin by his imperial policy; and that, while hemay have given unity, peace, and law to the Empire, he may have taken away its life I do not assert this, oreven argue its probability It may have been, and it may not have been It is an historical puzzle There are twosides to all great questions But whether or not we can settle with the light of modern knowledge such a point

as this, I look upon the defence of imperialism in itself, in preference to constitutional government with all itsimperfections, as an outrage on the whole progress of modern civilization, and on whatever remains of dignity

and intelligence among the people.

imperialism Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome is also a standard work, as well as Curtius's History

of Rome

MARCUS AURELIUS

* * * * *

A.D 121-180

THE GLORY OF ROME

Marcus Aurelius is immortal, not so much for what he did as for what he was His services to the State were

considerable, but not transcendent He was a great man, but not pre-eminently a great emperor He was ameditative sage rather than a man of action; although he successfully fought the Germanic barbarians, andrepelled their fearful incursions He did not materially extend the limits of the Empire, but he preserved andprotected its provinces He reigned wisely and ably, but made mistakes His greatness was in his character; hisinfluence for good was in his noble example When we consider his circumstances and temptations, as thesupreme master of a vast Empire, and in a wicked and sensual age, he is a greater moral phenomenon thanSocrates or Epictetus He was one of the best men of Pagan antiquity History furnishes no example of anabsolute monarch so pure and spotless and lofty as he was, unless it be Alfred the Great or St Louis But thesphere of the Roman emperor was far greater than that of the Mediaeval kings Marcus Aurelius ruled overone hundred and twenty millions of people, without check or hindrance or Constitutional restraint He could

do what he pleased with their persons and their property Most sovereigns, exalted to such lofty dignity andpower, have been either cruel, or vindictive, or self-indulgent, or selfish, or proud, or hard, or ambitious, menwho have been stained by crimes, whatever may have been their services to civilization Most of them haveyielded to their great temptations But Marcus Aurelius, on the throne of the civilized world, was modest,virtuous, affable, accessible, considerate, gentle, studious, contemplative, stained by novices, a model ofhuman virtue Hence he is one of the favorite characters of history No Roman emperor was so revered andloved as he, and of no one have so many monuments been preserved Everybody had his picture or statue inhis house He was more than venerated in his day, and his fame as a wise and good man has increased with theflight of ages

This illustrious emperor did not belong to the family of the great Caesar That family became extinct withNero, the sixth emperor Like Trajan and Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius derived his remote origin from Spain,although he was born in Rome His great-grandfather was a Spaniard, and yet attained the praetorian rank Hisgrandfather reached the consulate His father died while praetor, and when he himself was a child He wasadopted by his grandfather Annius Verus But his marvellous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted theattention of the Emperor Hadrian, who bestowed upon him the honor of the aequestrian rank, at the age of six

At fifteen he was adopted by Antoninus Pius, then, as we might say, "Crown Prince." Had he been older, hewould have been adopted by Hadrian himself He thus, a mere youth, became the heir of the Roman world.His education was most excellent From Fronto, the greatest rhetorician of the day, he learned rhetoric; fromHerodes Atticus he acquired a knowledge of the world; from Diognotus he learned to despise superstition;from Apollonius, undeviating steadiness of purpose; from Sextus of Chaeronea, toleration of human

infirmities; from Maximus, sweetness and dignity; from Alexander, allegiance to duty; from Rusticus,

contempt of sophistry and display This stoical philosopher created in him a new intellectual life, and opened

to him a new world of thought But the person to whom he was most indebted was his adopted father andfather-in-law, the Emperor Antoninus Pius For him he seems to have had the greatest reverence "In him,"said he, "I noticed mildness of manner with firmness of resolution, contempt of vain-glory, industry in

business, and accessibility of person From him I learned to acquiesce in every fortune, to exercise foresight inpublic affairs, to rise superior to vulgar praises, to serve mankind without ambition, to be sober and steadfast,

to be content with little, to be practical and active, to be no dreamy bookworm, to be temperate, modest indress, and not to be led away by novelties." What a picture of an emperor! What a contrast to such a man asLouis XIV!

We might draw a parallel between Marcus Aurelius and David, when he was young and innocent But theperson in history whom he most resembled was St Anselm He was a St Anselm on the throne Philosophicalmeditations seem to have been his delight and recreation; and yet he could issue from his retirement andengage in active pursuits He was an able general as well as a meditative sage, heroic like David, capable ofenduring great fatigue, and willing to expose himself to great dangers

While his fame rests on his "Meditations," as that of David rests upon his Psalms, he yet rendered greatmilitary services to the Empire He put down a dangerous revolt under Avidius Cassius in Asia, and did notpunish the rebellious provinces Not one person suffered death in consequence of this rebellion Even thepapers of Cassius, who aimed to be emperor, were burned, that a revelation of enemies might not be made, asignal instance of magnanimity Cassius, it seems, was assassinated by his own officers, which assassinationMarcus Aurelius regretted, because it deprived him of granting a free pardon to a very able but dangerousman

But the most signal service he rendered the Empire was a successful resistance to the barbarians of Germany,who had formed a general union for the invasion of the Roman world They threatened the security of theEmpire, as the Teutons did in the time of Marius, and the Gauls and Germans in the time of Julius Caesar Ittook him twenty years to subdue these fierce warriors He made successive campaigns against them, asCharlemagne did against the Saxons It cost him the best years of his life to conquer them, which he did underdifficulties as great as Julius surmounted in Gaul He was the savior and deliverer of his country, as much asMarius or Scipio or Julius The public dangers were from the West and not the East Yet he succeeded inerecting a barrier against barbaric inundations, so that for nearly two hundred years the Romans were notseriously molested There still stands in "the Eternal City" the column which commemorates his

victories, not so beautiful as that of Trajan, which furnished the model for Napoleon's column in the PlaceVendôme, but still greatly admired Were he not better known for his writings, he would be famous as one ofthe great military emperors, like Vespasian, Diocletian, and Constantine Perhaps he did not add to the art ofwar; that was perfected by Julius Caesar It was with the mechanism of former generals that he withstoodmost dangerous enemies, for in his day the legions were still well disciplined and irresistible

The only stains on the reign of this good and great emperor for there were none on his character were inallowing the elevation of his son Commodus as his successor, and his persecution of the Christians

In regard to the first, it was a blunder rather than a fault Peter the Great caused his heir to be tried and

sentenced to death, because he was a sot, a liar, and a fool He dared not intrust the interests of his Empire to

so unworthy a son; the welfare of Russia was more to him than the interest of his family In that respect thisstern and iron man was a greater prince than Marcus Aurelius; for the law of succession was not established atRome any more than in Russia There was no danger of civil war should the natural succession be set aside, asmight happen in the feudal monarchies of Europe The Emperor of Rome could adopt or elect his successor Itwould have been wise for Aurelius to have selected one of the ablest of his generals, or one of the wisest ofhis senators, as Hadrian did, for so great and responsible a position, rather than a wicked, cruel, dissolute son.But Commodus was the son of Faustina also, an intriguing and wicked woman, whose influence over her

husband was unfortunately great; and, what is common in this world, the son was more like the mother thanthe father (I think the wife of Eli the high-priest must have been a bad woman.) All his teachings and virtueswere lost on such a reprobate She, as an unscrupulous and ambitious woman, had no idea of seeing her sonsupplanted in the imperial dignity; and, like Catherine de'Medici and Agrippina, probably she connived at andeven encouraged the vices of her children, in order more easily to bear rule At any rate, the succession ofCommodus to the throne was the greatest calamity that could have happened For five reigns the Empire hadenjoyed peace and prosperity; for five reigns the tide of corruption had been stayed: but the flood of

corruption swept all barriers away with the accession of Commodus, and from that day the decline of theEmpire was rapid and fatal Still, probably nothing could have long arrested ruin The Empire was doomed.The other fact which obscured the glory of Marcus Aurelius as a sovereign was his persecution of the

Christians, for which it is hard to account, when the beneficent character of the emperor is considered Hisreign was signalized for an imperial persecution, in which Justin at Rome, Polycarp at Smyrna, and Ponthinus

at Lyons, suffered martyrdom It was not the first persecution Under Nero the Christians had been cruellytortured, nor did the virtuous Trajan change the policy of the government Hadrian and Antoninus Pius

permitted the laws to be enforced against the Christians, and Marcus Aurelius saw no reason to alter them But

to the mind of the Stoic on the throne, says Arnold, the Christians were "philosophically contemptible,

politically subversive, and morally abominable." They were regarded as statesmen looked upon the Jesuits inthe reign of Louis XV., as we look upon the Mormons, as dangerous to free institutions Moreover, theChristians were everywhere misunderstood and misrepresented It was impossible for Marcus Aurelius to seethe Christians except through a mist of prejudices "Christianity grew up in the Catacombs, not on the

Palatine." In allowing the laws to take their course against a body of men who were regarded with distrust andaversion as enemies of the State, the Emperor was simply unfortunate So wise and good a man, perhaps,ought to have known the Christians better; but, not knowing them, he cannot be stigmatized as a cruel man.How different the fortunes of the Church had Aurelius been the first Christian emperor instead of Constantine!

Or, had his wife Faustina known the Christians as well as Marcia the mistress of Commodus, perhaps thepersecution might not have happened, and perhaps it might Earnest and sincere men have often provedintolerant when their peculiar doctrines have been assailed, like Athanasius and St Bernard A Stoicalphilosopher was trained, like a doctor of the Jewish Sandhedrim, in a certain intellectual pride

The fame of Marcus Aurelius rests, as it has been said, on his philosophical reflections, as his "Meditations"attest This remarkable book has come down to us, while most of the annals of the age have perished; so thateven Niebuhr confesses that he knows less of the reign of Marcus Aurelius than of the early kings of Rome.Perhaps that is one reason why Gibbon begins his history with later emperors But the "Meditations" of thegood emperor survive, like the writings of Epictetus, St Augustine, and Thomas à Kempis: one of the fewimmortal books, immortal, in this case, not for artistic excellence, like the writings of Thucydides and

Tacitus, but for the loftiness of thoughts alone; so precious that the saints of the Middle Ages secretly

preserved them as in accord with their own experiences It is from these "Meditations" that we derive our bestknowledge of Marcus Aurelius They reveal the man, and a man of sorrows, as the truly great are apt to be,when brought in contact with a world of wickedness, as were Alfred and Dante

In these "Meditations" there is a striking resemblance to the discourses of Epictetus, which alike reveal thelofty and yet sorrowful soul, and are among the most valuable fragments which have come down from Paganantiquity; and this is remarkable, since Epictetus was a Phrygian slave, of the lowest parentage He belonged

to the secretary and companion of Nero, whose name was Epaphroditus, and who treated this poor Phrygianwith great cruelty And yet, what is very singular, the master caused the slave to be indoctrinated in the Stoicalphilosophy, on account of a rare intelligence which commanded respect He was finally manumitted, but livedall his life in the deepest poverty, to which he attached no more importance than Socrates did at Athens In hismiserable cottage he had no other furniture than a straw pallet and an iron lamp, which last somebody stole.His sole remark on the loss of the only property he possessed was, that when the thief came again he would bedisappointed to find only an earthen lamp instead of an iron one This earthen lamp was subsequently

purchased by a hero-worshipper for three thousand drachmas ($150) Epictetus, much as he despised riches

and display and luxury and hypocrisy and pedantry and all phariseeism, living in the depths of poverty, wasyet admired by eminent men, among whom was the Emperor Hadrian himself; and he found a disciple inArrian, who was to him what Xenophon was to Socrates, committing his precious thoughts to writing; andthese thoughts were to antiquity what the "Imitation of Christ" was to the Middle Ages, accepted by

Christians as well as by pagans, and even to-day regarded as one of the most beautiful treatises on morals evercomposed by man The great peculiarity of the "Manual" and the "Discourses" is the elevation of the soul overexternal evils, the duty of resignation to whatever God sends, and the obligation to do right because it is right.Epictetus did not go into the dreary dialectics of the schools, but, like Socrates, confined himself to practicallife, to the practice of virtue as the greatest good, and valued the joys of true intellectual independence Tohim his mind was his fortune, and he desired no better We do not find in the stoicism of the Phrygian slavethe devout and lofty spiritualism of Plato, thirsting for God and immortality; it may be doubted whether hebelieved in immortality at all: but he did recognize what is most noble in human life, the subservience of thepassions to reason, the power of endurance, patience, charity, and disinterested action He did recognize thenecessity of divine aid in the struggles of life, the glory of friendship, the tenderness of compassion, the power

of sympathy His philosophy was human, and it was cheerful; since he did not believe in misfortune, andexalted gentleness and philanthropy Above everything, he sought inward approval, not the praises of theworld, that happiness which lies within one's self, in the absence of all ignoble fears, in contentment, in thatpeace of the mind which can face poverty, disease, exile, and death

Such were the lofty views which, embodied in the discourses of Epictetus, fell into the hands of MarcusAurelius in the progress of his education, and exercised such a great influence on his whole subsequent life.The slave became the teacher of the emperor, which it is impossible to conceive of unless their souls were inharmony As a Stoic, the emperor would not be less on his throne than the slave in his cottage The trappingsand pomps of imperial state became indifferent to him, since they were external, and were of small momentcompared with that high spiritual life which he desired to lead If poverty and pain were nothing to Epictetus,

so grandeur and power and luxury should be nothing to him, both alike being merely outward things, like theclothes which cover a man And the fewer the impediments in the march after happiness and truth the better.Does a really great and preoccupied man care what he wears? "A shocking bad hat" was perhaps as indifferent

to Gladstone as a dirty old cloak was to Socrates I suppose if a man is known to be brainless, it is necessaryfor him to wear a disguise, even as instinct prompts a frivolous and empty woman to put on jewels But whoexpects a person recognized as a philosopher to use a mental crutch or wear a moral mask? Who expects anold man, compelling attention by his wisdom, to dress like a dandy? It is out of place; it is not even artistic, it

is ridiculous That only is an evil which shackles the soul Aurelius aspired to its complete emancipation Notfor the joys of a future heaven did he long, but for the realities and certitudes of earth, the placidity andharmony and peace of his soul, so long as it was doomed to the trials and temptations of the world, and aworld, too, which he did not despise, but which he sought to benefit

So, what was contentment in the slave became philanthropy in the emperor He would be a benefactor, not bybuilding baths and theatres, but by promoting peace, prosperity, and virtue He would endure cheerfully thefatigue of winter campaigns upon the frozen Danube, if the Empire could be saved from violence To extendits boundaries, like Julius, he cared nothing; but to preserve what he had was a supreme duty His watchwordwas duty, to himself, his country, and God He lived only for the happiness of his subjects Benevolencebecame the law of his life Self-abnegation destroyed self-indulgence For what was he placed by Providence

in the highest position in the world, except to benefit the world? The happiness of one hundred and twentymillions was greater than the joys of any individual existence And what were any pleasures which ended invanity to the sublime placidity of an emancipated soul? Stoicism, if it did not soar to God and immortality, yetaspired to the freedom and triumph of what is most precious in man And it equally despised, with haughtyscorn, those things which corrupted and degraded this higher nature, the glorious dignity of unfetteredintellect The accidents of earth were nothing in his eyes, neither the purple of kings nor the rags of poverty

It was the soul, in its transcendent dignity, which alone was to be preserved and purified

This was the exalted realism which appears in the "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius, and which he had

learned from the inspirations of a slave Yet such was the inborn, almost supernatural, loftiness of Aurelius,that, had he been the slave and Epictetus the emperor, the same moral wisdom would have shone in theteachings and life of each; for they both were God's witnesses of truth in an age of wickedness and shame Itwas He who chose them both, and sent them out as teachers of righteousness, the one from the humblestcottage, the other from the most magnificent palace of the capital of the world In station they were

immeasurably apart; in aim and similarity of ideas they were kindred spirits, one of the phenomena of themoral history of our race; for the slave, in his physical degradation, had all the freedom and grandeur of anaspiring soul, and the emperor, on his lofty throne, had all the humility and simplicity of a peasant in thelowliest state of poverty and suffering Surely circumstances had nothing to do with this marvellous

exhibition It was either the mind and soul triumphant over and superior to all outward circumstances, or itwas God imparting an extraordinary moral power

I believe it was the inscrutable design of the Supreme Governor of the universe to show, perhaps, what lessons

of moral wisdom could be taught by men under the most diverse influences and under the greatest contrasts ofrank and power, and also to what heights the souls of both slave and king could rise, with His aid, in the mostcorrupt period of human history Noah, Abraham, and Moses did not stand more isolated amidst universalwickedness than did the Phrygian slave and the imperial master of the world And as the piety of Noah couldnot save the antediluvian empires, as the faith of Abraham could not convert idolatrous nations, as the wisdom

of Moses could not prevent the sensualism of emancipated slaves, so the lofty philosophy of Aurelius couldnot save the Empire which he ruled And yet the piety of Noah, the faith of Abraham, the wisdom of Moses,and the stoicism of Aurelius have proved alike a spiritual power, the precious salt which was to preservehumanity from the putrefaction of almost universal selfishness and vice, until the new revelation shouldarouse the human soul to a more serious contemplation of its immortal destiny

The imperial "Meditations" are without art or arrangement, a sort of diary, valuable solely for their preciousthoughts; not lofty soarings in philosophical and religious contemplation, which tax the brain to comprehend,like the thoughts of Pascal, but plain maxims for the daily intercourse of life, showing great purity of characterand extraordinary natural piety, blended with pithy moral wisdom and a strong sense of duty "Men exist foreach other: teach them or bear with them," said he "Benevolence is invincible, if it be not an affected smile."

"When thou risest in the morning unwillingly, say, 'I am rising to the work of a human being; why, then,should I be dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I was brought into the world?'" "Since it ispossible that thou mayest depart from this life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly( for death hangs over thee whilst thou livest), while it is in thy power to be good." "What has become of allgreat and famous men, and all they desired and loved? They are smoke and ashes, and a tale." "If thou findest

in human life anything better than justice, temperance, fortitude, turn to it with all thy soul; but if thou findestanything else smaller (and of no value) than this, give place to nothing else." "Men seek retreats for

themselves, houses in the country, seashores, and mountains; but it is always in thy power to retire withinthyself, for nowhere does a man retire with more quiet or freedom than into his own soul." Think of suchsayings, written down in his diary on the evenings of the very days of battle with the barbarians on the

Danube or in Hungarian marshes! Think of a man, O ye Napoleons, ye conquerors, who can thus muse andmeditate in his silent tent, and by the light of his solitary lamp, after a day of carnage and of victory! Think ofsuch a man, not master of a little barbaric island or a half-established throne in a country no bigger than asmall province, but the supreme sovereign of a vast empire, at the time of its greatest splendor and prosperity,with no mortal power to keep his will in check, nothing but the voice within him; nothing but the sense ofduty; nothing but the desire of promoting the happiness of others: and this man a Pagan!

But the state of that Empire, with all its prosperity, needed such a man to arise If anything or anybody couldsave it, it was that succession of good emperors of whom Marcus Aurelius was the last, in the latter part of thesecond century Let us glance, in closing, at the real condition of the Empire at that time I take leave of theman, this "laurelled hero and crowned philosopher," stretching out his hands to the God he but dimly saw,and yet enunciating moral truths which for wisdom have been surpassed only by the sacred writers of theBible, to whom the Almighty gave his special inspiration I turn reluctantly from him to the Empire he

Gibbon says, in his immortal History, "If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world duringwhich the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, namethat which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus."

This is the view that Gibbon takes of the prosperity of the old Roman world under such princes as the

Antonines Niebuhr, however, a greater critic, though not so great an artist, takes a different view; and bothare great authorities If Gibbon meant simply that this period was the happiest and most prosperous during theimperial reigns, he may not have been far from the truth, according to his standpoint of what human happinessconsists in, that external prosperity which was the blessing of the Old Testament, and which Macaulay exalts

as proudly as Gibbon before him There was this external prosperity, so far as we know, and we know but

little aside from monuments and medals Even Tacitus shrank from writing contemporaneous history, and theperiod he could have painted is to us dark, mysterious, and unknown Still, it is generally supposed andconceded that the Empire at this time was outwardly splendid and prosperous Certainly there was a period ofpeace, when no wars troubled the State but those which were distant, on the very confines of the Empire, andthat with rude barbarians, no more formidable in the eyes of the luxurious citizens of the capital than a revolt

of the Sepoys to the eyes of the citizens of London, or Indian raids among the Rocky Mountains to the eyes ofthe people of New York And there was the reign of law and order, a most grateful thing to those who hadread of the conspiracy of Catiline and the tumults of Clodius, two hundred and fifty years before And therewas doubtless a magnificent material civilization which promised to be eternal, and of which every Romanwas proud There was a centralization of power in the Eternal City such as had never been seen before and hasnever been seen since, a solid Empire so large that the Mediterranean, which it enclosed, was a mere centrallake, around the vast circuit of whose shores were temples and palaces and villas of unspeakable beauty, andwhere a busy population pursued unmolested its various trades There was commerce on every river whichempties itself into this vast basin; there were manufactures in every town, and there were agricultural skill andabundance in every province The plains of Egypt and Mesopotamia rejoiced in the richest harvests of wheat;the hills of Syria and Gaul, and Spain and Italy, were covered with grape-vines and olives Italy boasted offifty kinds of wine, and Gaul produced the same vegetables that are known at the present day All kinds offruit were plenty and luscious in every province There were game-preserves and fish-ponds and groves.There were magnificent roads between all the great cities, an uninterrupted highway, mostly paved, fromYork to Jerusalem The productions of the East were consumed in the West, for ships whitened the sea,bearing their precious gems, and ivory, and spices, and perfumes, and silken fabrics, and carpets, and costlyvessels of gold and silver, and variegated marbles; and all the provinces of an empire which extended fifteenhundred miles from north to south and three thousand from east to west were dotted with cities, some ofwhich almost rivalled the imperial capital in size and magnificence The little island of Rhodes containedtwenty-three thousand statues, and Antioch had a street four miles in length, with double colonnades

throughout its whole extent The temple of Ephesus covered as much ground as does the cathedral of Cologne,and the library of Alexandria numbered seven hundred thousand volumes Rome, the proud metropolis, had adiameter of eleven miles, and was forty-five miles in circuit, with a population, according to Lipsius, largerthan modern London It had seventeen thousand palaces, thirty theatres, nine thousand baths, and elevenamphitheatres, one of which could seat eighty-seven thousand spectators The gilding of the roof of thecapitol cost fifteen millions of our money The palace of Nero was more extensive than Versailles Themausoleum of Hadrian became the most formidable fortress of Mediaeval times And then, what gold andsilver vessels ornamented every palace, what pictures and statues enriched every room, what costly and gildedand carved furniture was the admiration of every guest, what rich dresses decorated the women who supped atgorgeous tables of solid silver, whose very sandals were ornamented with precious stones, and whose neckswere hung with priceless pearls and rubies and diamonds! Paulina wore a pearl which, it is said, cost twohundred and fifty thousand dollars of our money All the masterpieces of antiquity were collected in thiscentre of luxury and pride, all those arts which made Greece immortal, and which we can only copy Whatvast structures, ornamented with pillars and marble statues, were crowded together near the Forum and

Capitoline Hill! The museums of Italy contain to-day twenty thousand specimens of ancient sculpture, which

no modern artist could improve More than a million of dollars were paid for a single picture for the imperialbed-chamber, for painting was carried to as great perfection as sculpture.

Such were the arts of the Pagan city, such the material civilization in all the cities; and these cities wereguarded by soldiers who were trained to the utmost perfection of military discipline, and presided over bygovernors as elegant, as polished, and as intelligent as the courtiers of Louis XIV The genius for war wasonly equalled by genius for government How well administered were all the provinces! The Romans spreadtheir laws, their language, and their institutions everywhere without serious opposition They were greatcivilizers, as the English have been "Law" became as great an idea as "glory;" and so perfect was the

mechanism of government that the happiness of the people was scarcely affected by the character of theemperors Jurisprudence, the indigenous science of the Romans, is still studied and adopted for its politicalwisdom

Such was the civilization of the Roman world in the time of Marcus Aurelius, that external grandeur, thatoutward prosperity, to which Gibbon points with such admiration and pride, and to which he ascribed thehighest happiness which the world has ever enjoyed Far different, probably, would have been the verdict ofthe good and contemplative emperor who then ruled the civilized world, when he saw the luxury, the pride,the sensuality, the selfishness, the irreligion, the worldliness, which marked all classes; producing vices toohorrible to be even named, and undermining the moral health, and secretly and surely preparing the way forapproaching violence and ruin

What, then, is the reverse of the picture which Gibbon admired? What established facts have we as an offset

to these gilded material glories? What should be the true judgment of mankind as to this lauded period?The historian speaks of peace, and the prosperity which naturally flowed from it in the uninterrupted pursuit

of the ordinary occupations of life This is indisputable There was the increase of wealth, the enjoyment ofsecurity, the absence of fears, and the reign of law Life and property were guarded A man could travel fromone part of the Empire to the other without fear of robbers or assassins All these things are great blessings.Materially we have no higher civilization But with peace and prosperity were idleness, luxury, gambling,dissipation, extravagance, and looseness of morals of which we have no conception, and which no subsequentage of the world has seen It was the age of most scandalous monopolies, and disproportionate fortunes, andabandonment to the pleasures of sense Any Roman governor could make a fortune in a year; and his fortunewas spent in banquets and fêtes and races and costly wines, and enormous retinues of slaves The theatres, thechariot races, the gladiatorial shows, the circus, and the sports of the amphitheatre were then at their height.The central spring of society was money, since it purchased everything which Epicureanism valued Nodignitary was respected for his office, only for the salary or gains which his office brought All professionswhich were not lucrative gradually fell into disrepute; and provided they were lucrative, it was of no

consequence whether or not they were infamous Dancers, cooks, and play-actors received the highest

consideration, since their earnings were large Scholars, poets, and philosophers what few there were pined

in attics Epictetus lived in a miserable cottage with only a straw pallet and a single lamp Women had noeducation, and were disgracefully profligate; even the wife of Marcus Aurelius (the daughter of AntoninusPius) was one of the most abandoned women of the age, notwithstanding all the influence of their teachingsand example Slavery was so great an institution that half of the population were slaves There were sixtymillions of them in the Empire, and they were generally treated with brutal cruelty The master of Epictetus,himself a scholar and philosopher, broke wantonly the leg of his illustrious slave to see how well he couldbear pain There were no public charities The poor and miserable and sick were left to perish unheeded andunrelieved Even the free citizens were fed at the public expense, not as a charity, but to prevent revolts.About two thousand people owned the whole civilized world, and their fortunes were spent in demoralizing it.What if their palaces were grand, and their villas beautiful, and their dresses magnificent, and their furniturecostly, if their lives were spent in ignoble and enervating pleasures, as is generally admitted There was a lowreligious life, almost no religion at all, and what there was was degrading by its superstition Everywhere wereseen the rites of magical incantations, the pretended virtue of amulets and charms, soothsayers laughing at

their own predictions, nowhere the worship of the one God who created the heaven and the earth, nor even a

genuine worship of the Pagan deities, but a general spirit of cynicism and atheism What does St Paul say ofthe Romans when he was a prisoner in the precincts of the imperial palace, and at a time of no greater

demoralization? We talk of the glories of jurisprudence; but what was the practical operation of laws whensuch a harmless man as Paul could be brought to trial, and perhaps execution! What shall we say of theboasted justice, when judgments were rendered on technical points, and generally in favor of those who hadthe longest purses; so that it was not only expensive to go to law, but so expensive that it was ruinous? Whatcould be hoped of laws, however good, when they were made the channels of extortion, when the occupation

of the Bench itself was the great instrument by which powerful men protected their monopolies? We speak ofthe glories of art; but art was prostituted to please the lower tastes and inflame the passions The most costlypictures were hung up in the baths, and were disgracefully indecent Even literature was directed to the

flattery of tyrants and rich men There was no manly protest from literary men against the increasing vices ofsociety, not even from the philosophers Philosophy continually declined, like literature and art Nothingstrikes us more forcibly than the absence of genius in the second century There was no reward for geniusexcept when it flattered and pandered to what was demoralizing Who dared to utter manly protests in theSenate? Who discussed the principles of government? Who would venture to utter anything displeasing to theimperial masters of the world? In this age of boundless prosperity, where were the great poets, where thehistorians, where the writers on political economy, where the moralists? For one hundred years there werescarcely ten eminent men in any department of literature whose writings have come down to us There was themost marked decay in all branches of knowledge, except in that knowledge which could be utilized for

making money The imperial régime cast a dismal shadow over all the efforts of independent genius, on alllofty aspirations, on all individual freedom Architects, painters, and sculptors there were in abundance, andthey were employed and well paid; but where were poets, scholars, sages? where were politicians even? Thegreat and honored men were the tools of emperors, the prefects of their guards, the generals of their armies,the architects of their palaces, the purveyors of their banquets If the emperor happened to be a good

administrator of this complicated despotism, he was sustained, like Tiberius, whatever his character If he wasweak or frivolous, he was removed by assassination It was a government of absolute physical forces, and it ismost marvellous that such a man as Marcus Aurelius could have been its representative And what could hehave done with his philosophical inquiries had he not also been a great general and a practical

administrator, a man of business as well as a man of thought?

But I cannot enumerate the evils which coexisted with all the boasted prosperity of the Empire, and whichwere preparing the way for ruin, evils so disgraceful and universal that Christianity made no impression at all

on society at large, and did not modify a law or remove a single object of scandal Do you call that state ofsociety prosperous and happy when half of the population was in base bondage to cruel masters; when womengenerally were degraded and slighted; when money was the object of universal idolatry; when the only

pleasures were in banquets and races and other demoralizing sports; when no value was placed upon the soul,and infinite value on the body; when there was no charity, no compassion, no tenderness; when no poor mancould go to law; when no genius was encouraged unless for utilitarian ends; when genius was not even

appreciated or understood, still less rewarded; when no man dared to lift up his voice against any crying evil,especially of a political character; when the whole civilized world was fettered, deceived, and mocked, andmade to contribute to the power, pleasure, and pride of a single man and the minions upon whom he smiled?

Is all this to be overlooked in our estimate of human happiness? Is there nothing to be considered but externalglories which appeal to the senses alone? Shall our eyes be diverted from the operation of moral law and theinevitable consequences of its violation? Shall we blind ourselves to the future condition of our families andour country in our estimate of happiness? Shall we ignore, in the dazzling life of a few favored extortioners,monopolists, and successful gamblers all that Christianity points out as the hope and solace and glory ofmankind? Not thus would we estimate human felicity Not thus would Marcus Aurelius, as he cast his sad andprophetic eye down the vistas of succeeding reigns, and saw the future miseries and wars and violence whichwere the natural result of egotism and vice, have given his austere judgment on the happiness of his Empire

In all his sweetness and serenity, he penetrated the veil which the eye of the worldly Gibbon could not pierce

He declares that "those things which are most valued are empty, rotten, and trifling," these are his very

words; and that the real life of the people, even in the days of Trajan, had ceased to exist, that everything

truly precious was lost in the senseless grasp after what can give no true happiness or permanent prosperity.AUTHORITIES

The "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius; Epictetus should be read in connection Renan's Life of MarcusAurelius Farrar's Seekers after God Arnold has also written some interesting things about this emperor InSmith's Dictionary there is an able article Gibbon says something, but not so much as we could wish

Tillemont, in his History of the Emperors, says more I would also refer my readers to my "Old RomanWorld," to Sismondi's Fall of the Roman Empire, and to Montesquieu's treatise on the Decadence of theRomans The original Roman authorities which have come down to us are meagre and few

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

* * * * *

A.D 272-337

CHRISTIANITY ENTHRONED

One of the links in the history of civilization is the reign of Constantine, not unworthily called the Great, since

it would be difficult to find a greater than he among the Roman emperors, after Julius Caesar, while his laborswere by far more beneficent A new era began with his illustrious reign, the triumph of Christianity as theestablished religion of the crumbling Empire Under his enlightened protection the Church, persecuted fromthe time of Nero, and never fashionable or popular, or even powerful as an institution, arose triumphant,defiant, almost militant, with new passions and interests; ambitious, full of enthusiasm, and with unboundedhope, a great spiritual power, whose authority even princes and nobles were at last unable to withstand Nolonger did the Christians live in catacombs and hiding-places; no longer did they sing their mournful songsover the bleeding and burning bodies of the saints, but arose in the majesty of a new and irresistible

power, temporal as well as spiritual, breathing vengeance on ancient foes, grasping great dignities, seizingthe revenues of princes, and proclaiming the sovereignty of their invisible King In defence of their owndoctrines they became fierce, arrogant, dogmatic, contentious, not with sword in one hand and crucifix in theother, like the warlike popes and bishops of mediaeval Europe, but with intense theological hatreds, andaustere contempt of those luxuries and pleasures which had demoralized society

The last great act of Diocletian one of the ablest and most warlike of the emperors was an unrelenting anddesperate persecution of the Christians, whose religion had been steadily gaining ground for two centuries, inspite of martyrdoms and anathemas; and this was so severe and universal that it seemed to be successful But

he had no sooner retired from the government of the world (A.D 305) than the faith he supposed he hadsuppressed forever sprung up with new force, and defied any future attempt to crush it

The vitality of the new religion had been preserved in ages of unparalleled vices by two things especially, bymartyrdom and by austerities; the one a noble attestation of faith in an age of unbelief, and the other a lofty,almost stoical, disdain of those pleasures which centre in the body

The martyrs cheerfully and heroically endured physical sufferings in view of the glorious crown of which theywere assured in the future world They lived in the firm conviction of immortality, and that eternal happinesswas connected indissolubly with their courage, intrepidity, and patience in bearing testimony to the divinecharacter and mission of Him who had shed his blood for the remission of sins No sufferings were of anyaccount in comparison with those of Him who died for them Filled with transports of love for the divineRedeemer, who rescued them from the despair of Paganism, and bound with ties of supreme allegiance toHim as the Conqueror and Saviour of the world, they were ready to meet death in any form for his sake They

had become, by professing Him as their Lord and Sovereign, soldiers of the Cross, ready to endure anysacrifices for his sacred cause.

Thus enthusiasm was kindled in a despairing and unbelieving world And probably the world never saw, inany age, such devotion and zeal for an invisible power It was animated by the hope of a glorious immortality,

of which Christianity alone, of all ancient religions, inspired a firm conviction In this future existence werevictory and blessedness everlasting, not to be had unless one was faithful unto death This sublime faith thisglorious assurance of future happiness, this devotion to an unseen King made a strong impression on thosewho witnessed the physical torments which the sufferers bore with unspeakable triumph There must be, theythought, something in a religion which could take away the sting of death and rob the grave of its victory Thenoble attestation of faith in Jesus did perhaps more than any theological teachings towards the conversion ofmen to Christianity And persecution and isolation bound the Christians together in bonds of love and

harmony, and kept them from the temptations of life There was a sort of moral Freemasonry among the

despised and neglected followers of Christ, such as has not been seen before or since They were in the world but not of the world They were the precious salt to preserve what was worth preserving in a rapidly dissolving

Empire They formed a new power, which would be triumphant amid the universal destruction of old

institutions; for the soul would be saved, and Christianity taught that the soul was everything, that nothingcould be given in exchange for it

The other influence which seemed to preserve the early Christians from the overwhelming materialism of thetimes was the asceticism which so early became prevalent It had not been taught by Jesus, but seemed to arisefrom the necessities of the times It was a fierce protest against the luxuries of an enervated age The passionfor dress and ornament, and the indulgence of the appetites and other pleasures which pampered the body, andwhich were universal, were a hindrance to the enjoyment of that spiritual life which Christianity unfolded Asthe soul was immortal and the body was mortal, that which was an impediment to the welfare of what wasmost precious was early denounced In order to preserve the soul from the pollution of material pleasures, astrenuous protest was made Hence that defiance of the pleasures of sense which gave loftiness and

independence of character soon became a recognized and cardinal virtue The Christian stood aloof from thebanquets and luxuries which undermined the virtues on which the strength of man is based The characteristicvices of the Pagan world were unchastity and fondness for the pleasures of the table To these were added thelesser vices of display and ornaments in dress From these the Christian fled as fatal enemies to his spiritualelevation I do not believe it was the ascetic ideas imported from India, such as marked the Brahmins, nor thevisionary ideas of the Sufis and the Buddhists, and of other Oriental religionists, which gave the impulse tomonastic life and led to the austerities of the Church in the second and third centuries, so much as the practicalevils with which every one was conversant, and which were plainly antagonistic to the doctrine that the life ismore than meat The triumph of the mind over the body excited an admiration scarcely less marked than thevoluntary sacrifice of life to a sacred cause Asceticism, repulsive in many of its aspects, and even unnaturaland inhuman, drew a cordon around the Christians, and separated them from the sensualities of ordinary life

It was a reproof as well as a protest It attacked Epicureanism in its most vulnerable point "How hardly shallthey who have riches enter into the kingdom of God?" Hence the voluntary poverty, the giving away ofinherited wealth to the poor, the extreme simplicity of living, and even retirement from the habitations of men,which marked the more earnest of the new believers Hence celibacy, and avoidance of the society of

women, all to resist most dangerous temptation Hence the vows of poverty and chastity which early enteredmonastic life, a life favorable to ascetic virtues These were indeed perverted Everything good is perverted

in this world Self-expiations, flagellations, sheepskin cloaks, root dinners, repulsive austerities, followed Butthese grew out of the noble desire to keep unspotted from the world And unless this desire had been

encouraged by the leaders of the Church, the Christian would soon have been contaminated with the vices ofPaganism, especially such as were fashionable, as is deplorably the case in our modern times, when it is sodifficult to draw the line between those who do not and those who do openly profess the Christian faith It isquite probable that Christianity would not have triumphed over Paganism, had not Christianity made so strong

a protest against those vices and fashions which were peculiar to an Epicurean age and an Epicurean

philosophy

It was at this period, when Christianity was a great spiritual power, that Constantine arose He was born atNaissus, in Dacia, A.D 274, his father being a soldier of fortune, and his mother the daughter of an innkeeper.

He was eighteen when his father, Constantius, was promoted by the Emperor Diocletian to the dignity ofCaesar, a sort of lieutenant-emperor, and early distinguished himself in the Egyptian and Persian wars Hewas thirty-one when he joined his father in Britain, whom he succeeded, soon after, in the imperial dignity.Like Theodosius, he was tall, and majestic in manners; gracious, affable, and accessible, like Julius; prudent,cautious, reticent, like Fabius; insensible to the allurements of pleasure, and incredibly active and bold, likeHannibal, Charlemagne, and Napoleon; a politic man, disposed to ally himself with the rising party The firstfew years of his reign, which began in A.D 306, were devoted to the establishment of his power in Britain,where the flower of the Western army was concentrated, foreseeing a desperate contest with the five rivalswho shared between them the Empire which Diocletian had divided; which division, though possibly a

necessity in those turbulent times, would yet seem to have been an unwise thing, since it led to civil wars andrivalries, and struggles for supremacy It is a mistake to divide a great empire, unless mechanism is worn out,and a central power is impossible The tendency of modern civilization is to a union of States, when theirlanguage and interests and institutions are identical Yet Diocletian was wearied and oppressed by the burdens

of State, and retired disgusted, dividing the Empire into two parts, the Eastern and Western But there weresubdivisions in consequence, and civil wars; and had the policy of Diocletian been continued, the Empiremight have been subdivided, like Charlemagne's, until central power would have been destroyed, as in theMiddle Ages But Constantine aimed at a general union of the East and West once again, partly from thedesire of centralization, and partly from ambition The military career of Constantine for about seventeenyears was directed to the establishment of his power in Britain, to the reunion of the Empire, and the

subjugation of his colleagues, a long series of disastrous civil wars These wars are without poetic

interest, in this respect unlike the wars between Caesar and Pompey, and that between Octavius and Antony.The wars of Caesar inaugurated the imperial régime when the Empire was young and in full vigor, and whenmilitary discipline was carried to perfection; those of Constantine were in the latter days of the Empire, when

it was impossible to reanimate it, and all things were tending rapidly to dissolution, an exceedingly gloomyperiod, when there were neither statesmen nor philosophers nor poets nor men of genius, of historic fame,outside the Church Therefore I shall not dwell on these uninteresting wars, brought about by the ambition ofsix different emperors, all of whom were aiming for undivided sovereignty There were in the West

Maximian, the old colleague of Diocletian, who had resigned with him, but who had reassumed the purple; hisson, Maxentius, elevated by the Roman Senate and the Praetorian Guard, a dissolute and imbecile youngman, who reigned over Italy; and Constantine, who possessed Gaul and Britain In the East were Galerius,who had married the daughter of Diocletian, and who was a general of considerable ability; Licinius, who hadthe province of Illyricum; and Maximin, who reigned over Syria and Egypt

The first of these emperors who was disposed of was Maximian, the father of Maxentius and father-in-law ofConstantine He was regarded as a usurper, and on the capture of Marseilles, he under pressure of Constantinecommitted suicide by strangulation, A.D 310 Galerius did not long survive, being afflicted with a loathsomedisease, the result of intemperance and gluttony, and died in his palace in Nicomedia, in Bithynia, the capital

of the Eastern provinces The next emperor who fell was Maxentius, after a desperate struggle in Italy withConstantine, whose passage over the Alps, and successive victories at Susa (at the foot of Mont Cenis, on theplains of Turin), at Verona, and Saxa Rubra, nine miles from Rome, from which Maxentius fled, only toperish in the Tiber, remind us of the campaigns of Hannibal and Napoleon The triumphal arch which thevictor erected at Rome to commemorate his victories still remains as a monument of the decline of Art in thefourth century As a result of the conquest over Maxentius, the Praetorian guards were finally abolished,which gave a fatal blow to the Senate, and left the capital disarmed and exposed to future insults and dangers.The next emperor who disappeared from the field was Maximin, who had embarked in a civil war withLicinius He died at Tarsus, after an unsuccessful contest, A.D 313; and there were left only Licinius andConstantine, the former of whom reigned in the East and the latter in the West Scarcely a year elapsedbefore these two emperors embarked in a bloody contest for the sovereignty of the world Licinius was beaten,but was allowed the possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt A hollow reconciliation was made

between them, which lasted eight years, during which Constantine was engaged in the defence of his empirefrom the hostile attacks of the Goths in Illyricum He gained great victories over these barbarians, and chasedthem beyond the Danube He then turned against Licinius, and the bloody battle of Adrianople, A.D 323,when three hundred thousand combatants were engaged, followed by a still more bloody one on the heights ofChrysopolis, A.D 324, made Constantine supreme master of the Empire thirty-seven years after Diocletianhad divided his power with Maximian.

The great events of his reign as sole emperor, with enormous prestige as a general, second only to that ofJulius Caesar, were the foundation of Constantinople and the establishment of Christianity as the religion ofthe Empire

The ancient Byzantium, which Constantine selected as the new capital of his Empire, had been no

inconsiderable city for nearly one thousand years, being founded only ninety-seven years after Rome itself.Yet, notwithstanding its magnificent site, equally favorable for commerce and dominion, its advantageswere not appreciated until the genius of Constantine selected it as the one place in his vast dominions whichcombined a central position and capacities for defence against invaders It was also a healthy locality, beingexposed to no malarial poisons, like the "Eternal City." It was delightfully situated, on the confines of Europeand Asia, between the Euxine and the Mediterranean, on a narrow peninsula washed by the Sea of Marmoraand the beautiful harbor called the Golden Horn, inaccessible from Asia except by water, while it could bemade impregnable on the west The narrow waters of the Hellespont and the Bosporus, the natural gates of thecity, could be easily defended against hostile fleets both from the Euxine and the Mediterranean, leaving thePropontis (the deep, well-harbored body of water lying between the two straits, in modern times called the Sea

of Marmora) with an inexhaustible supply of fish, and its shores lined with vineyards and gardens Doubtlessthis city is more favored by nature for commerce, for safety, and for dominion, than any other spot on the face

of the earth; and we cannot wonder that Russia should cast greedy eyes upon it as one of the centres of itsrapidly increasing Empire This beautiful site soon rivalled the old capital of the Empire in riches and

population, for Constantine promised great privileges to those who would settle in it; and he ransacked anddespoiled the cities of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor of what was most precious in Art to make his new capitalattractive, and to ornament his new palaces, churches, and theatres In this Grecian city he surrounded himselfwith Asiatic pomp and ceremonies He assumed the titles of Eastern monarchs His palace was served andguarded with a legion of functionaries that made access to his person difficult He created a new nobility, andmade infinite gradations of rank, perpetuated by the feudal monarchs of Europe He gave pompous names tohis officers, both civil and military, using expressions still in vogue in European courts, like "Your

Excellency," "Your Highness," and "Your Majesty," names which the emperors who had reigned at Romehad uniformly disdained He cut himself loose from all the traditions of the past, especially all relics of

republicanism He divided the civil government of the Empire into thirteen great dioceses, and these hesubdivided into one hundred and sixteen provinces He separated the civil from the military functions ofgovernors He installed eunuchs in his palace, to wait upon his person and perform menial offices He madehis chamberlain one of the highest officers of State He guarded his person by bodies of cavalry and infantry

He clothed himself in imposing robes; elaborately arranged his hair; wore a costly diadem; ornamented hisperson with gems and pearls, with collars and bracelets He lived, in short, more like a Heliogabalus than aTrajan or an Aurelian All traces of popular liberty were effaced All dignities and honors and offices

emanated from him The Caesars had been absolute monarchs, but disguised their power Constantine made

an ostentatious display of his Moreover he increased the burden of taxation throughout the Empire The lastfourteen years of his reign was a period of apparent prosperity, but the internal strength of the Empire and thecharacter of the emperor sadly degenerated He became effeminate, and committed crimes which sullied hisfame He executed his oldest son on mere suspicion of crime, and on a charge of infidelity even put to deaththe wife with whom he had lived for twenty years, and who was the mother of future emperors

But if he had great faults he had also great virtues No emperor since Augustus had a more enlightened mind,and no one ever reigned at Rome who, in one important respect, did so much for the cause of civilization.Constantine is most lauded as the friend and promoter of Christianity It is by his service to the Church that he

has won the name of the first Christian emperor His efforts in behalf of the Church throw into the shade allthe glory he won as a general and as a statesman The real interest of his reign centres in his Christian

legislation, and in those theological controversies in which he interfered With Constantine began the

enthronement of Christianity, and for one thousand years what is most vital in European history is connectedwith Christian institutions and doctrines

It was when he was marching against Maxentius that his conversion to Christianity took place, A.D 312,when he was thirty-eight, in the sixth year of his reign Up to this period he was a zealous Pagan, and mademagnificent offerings to the gods of his ancestors, and erected splendid temples, especially in honor of

Apollo The turn of his mind was religious, or, as we are taught by modern science to say, superstitious Hebelieved in omens, dreams, visions, and supernatural influences

Now it was in a very critical period of his campaign against his Pagan rival, on the eve of an important battle,

as he was approaching Rome for the first time, filled with awe of its greatness and its recollections, that hesaw or fancied he saw a little after noon, just above the sun which he worshipped, a bright Cross, with thisinscription, [Greek: En touto nika] "In this conquer;" and in the following night, when sleep had overtakenhim, he dreamed that Christ appeared to him, and enjoined him to make a banner in the shape of the celestialsign which he had seen Such is the legend, unhesitatingly received for centuries, yet which modern critics arenot disposed to accept as a miracle, although attested by Eusebius, and confirmed by the emperor himself onoath Whether some supernatural sign really appeared or not, or whether some natural phenomenon appeared

in the heavens in the form of an illuminated Cross, it is not worth while to discuss We know this, however,that if the greatest religious revolution of antiquity was worthy to be announced by special signs and wonders,

it was when a Roman emperor of extraordinary force of character declared his intention to acknowledge andserve the God of the persecuted Christians The miracle rests on the authority of a single bishop, as sacredlyattested by the emperor, in whom he saw no fault; but the fact of the conversion remains as one of the mostsignal triumphs of Christianity, and the conversion itself was the most noted and important in its results sincethat of Saul of Tarsus It may have been from conviction, and it may have been from policy It may have beenmerely that he saw, in the vigorous vitality of the Christian principle of devotion to a single Person, a healthierforce for the unification of his great empire than in the disintegrating vices of Paganism But, whatever hismotive, his action stirred up the enthusiasm of a body of men which gave the victory of the Milvian Bridge.All that was vital in the Empire was found among the Christians, already a powerful and rising party, thatpersecution could not put down Constantine became the head and leader of this party, whose watchword eversince has been "Conquer," until all powers and principalities and institutions are brought under the influence

of the gospel So far as we know, no one has ever doubted the sincerity of Constantine Whatever were hisfaults, especially that of gluttony, which he was never able to overcome, he was ever afterwards strict andfervent in his devotions He employed his evenings in the study of the Scriptures, as Marcus Aurelius

meditated on the verities of a spiritual life after the fatigues and dangers of the day He was not so good a man

as was the pious Antoninus, who would, had he been converted to Christianity, have given to it a purer and

loftier legislation It may be doubted whether Aurelius would have made popes of bishops, or would haveinvested metaphysical distinctions in theology with so great an authority But the magnificent patronagewhich Constantine gave to the clergy was followed by greater and more enlightened sovereigns than he, byTheodosius, by Charlemagne, and by Alfred; while the dogmas which were defended by Athanasius with suchtranscendent ability at the council where the emperor presided in person, formed an anchor to the faith in thelong and dreary period when barbarism filled Europe with desolation and fear

Constantine, as a Roman emperor, exercised the supreme right of legislation, the highest prerogative of men

in power So that his acts as legislator naturally claim our first notice His edicts were laws which could not begainsaid or resisted They were like the laws of the Medes and Persians, except that they could be repealed ormodified

One of the first things he did after his conversion was to issue an edict of toleration, which secured the

Christians from any further persecution, an act of immeasurable benefit to humanity, yet what any man

would naturally have done in his circumstances If he could have inaugurated the reign of toleration for allreligious opinions, he would have been a still greater benefactor But it was something to free a persecutedbody of believers who had been obliged to hide or suffer for two hundred years By the edict of Milan, A.D.

313, he secured the revenues as well as the privileges of the Church, and restored to the Christians the landsand houses of which they had been stripped by the persecution of Diocletian Eight years later he allowedpersons to bequeath property to Christian institutions and churches He assigned in every city an allowance ofcorn in behalf of charities to the poor He confirmed the clergy in the right of being tried in their own courtsand by their peers, when accused of crime, a great privilege in the fourth century, but a great abuse in thefourteenth The arbitration of bishops had the force of positive law, and judges were instructed to execute theepiscopal decrees He transferred to the churches the privilege of sanctuary granted to those fleeing fromjustice in the Mosaic legislation He ordained that Sunday should be set apart for religious observances in allthe towns and cities of the Empire He abolished crucifixion as a punishment He prohibited gladiatorialgames He discouraged slavery, infanticide, and easy divorces He allowed the people to choose their ownministers, nor did he interfere in the election of bishops He exempted the clergy from all services to the State,from all personal taxes, and all municipal duties He seems to have stood in awe of bishops, and to havetreated them with great veneration and respect, giving to them lands and privileges, enriching their churcheswith ornaments, and securing to the clergy an ample support So prosperous was the Church under his

beneficence, that the average individual income of the eighteen hundred bishops of the Empire has beenestimated by Gibbon at three thousand dollars a year, when money was much more valuable than it is in ourtimes

In addition to his munificent patronage of the clergy, Constantine was himself deeply interested in all

theological affairs and discussions He convened and presided over the celebrated Council of Nicaea, or Nice,

as it is usually called, composed of three hundred and eighteen bishops, and of two thousand and forty-eightecclesiastics of lesser note, listening to their debates and following their suggestions The Christian worldnever saw a more imposing spectacle than this great council, which was convened to settle the creed of theChurch It met in a spacious basilica, where the emperor, arrayed in his purple and silk robes, with a diadem

of precious jewels on his head, and a voice of gentleness and softness, and an air of supreme majesty,

exhorted the assembled theologians to unity and concord

The vital question discussed by this magnificent and august assembly was metaphysical as well as religious;yet it was the question of the age, on which everybody talked, in public and in private, and which was deemed

of far greater importance than any war or any affair of State The interest in this subject seems strange tomany, in an age when positive science and material interests have so largely crowded out theological

discussions But the doctrine of the Trinity was as vital and important in the eyes of the divines of the fourthcentury as that of Justification by Faith was to the Germans when they assembled in the great hall of theElectoral palace of Leipsic to hear Luther and Dr Eck advocate their separate sides

In the time of Constantine everything pertaining to Christianity and the affairs of the Church became investedwith supreme importance All other subjects and interests were secondary, certainly among the Christiansthemselves As redemption is the central point of Christianity, public preaching and teaching had been

directed chiefly, at first, to the passion, death, and resurrection of the Saviour of the world Then came

discussions and controversies, naturally, about the person of Christ and his relation to the Godhead Amongthe early followers of our Lord there had been no pride of reason and a very simple creed Least of all did theyseek to explain the mysteries of their faith by metaphysical reasoning Their doctrines were not brought to thetest of philosophy It was enough for these simple and usually unimportant and unlettered people to acceptgenerally accredited facts It was enough that Christ had suffered and died for them, in his boundless love, andthat their souls would be saved in consequence And as to doctrines, all they sought to know was what ourLord and his apostles said Hence there was among them no system of theology, as we understand it, beyondthe Apostles' Creed But in the early part of the second century Justin Martyr, a converted philosopher,

devoted much labor to a metaphysical development of the doctrine drawn from the expressions of the ApostleJohn in reference to the Logos, or Word, as identical with the Son

In the third century the whole Church was agitated by the questions which grew out of the relations betweenthe Father and the Son From the person of Christ so dear to the Church the discussion naturally passed tothe Trinity Then arose the great Alexandrian school of theology, which attempted to explain and harmonizethe revealed truths of the Bible by Grecian dialectics Hence interminable disputes among divines and

scholars, as to whether the Father and the Logos were one; whether the Son was created or uncreated; whether

or not he was subordinate to the Father; whether the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were distinct, or one inessence Origen, Clement, and Dionysius were the most famous of the doctors who discussed these points Allclasses of Christians were soon attracted by them They formed the favorite subjects of conversation, as well

as of public teaching Zeal in discussion created acrimony and partisan animosity Things were lost sight of,and words alone prevailed Sects and parties arose The sublime efforts of such men as Justin and Clement tosoar to a knowledge of God were perverted to vain disputations in reference to the relations between the threepersons of the Godhead

Alexandria was the centre of these theological agitations, being then, perhaps, the most intellectual city in theEmpire It was filled with Greek philosophers and scholars and artists, and had the largest library in the world

It had the most famous school of theology, the learned and acute professors of which claimed to make

theology a science Philosophy became wedded to theology, and brought the aid of reason to explain thesubjects of faith

Among the noted theologians of this Christian capital was a presbyter who preached in the principal church.His name was Arius, and he was the most popular preacher of the city He was a tall, spare man, handsome,eloquent, with a musical voice and earnest manner He was the idol of fashionable women and cultivated men

He was also a poet, like Abélard, and popularized his speculations on the Trinity He was as reproachless inmorals as Dr Channing or Theodore Parker; ascetic in habits and dress; bold, acute, and plausible; but heshocked the orthodox party by such sayings as these: "God was not always Father; once he was not Father;afterwards he became Father." He affirmed, in substance, that the Son was created by the Father, and hencewas inferior in power and dignity He did not deny the Trinity, any more than Abélard did in after times; buthis doctrines, pushed out to their logical sequence, were a virtual denial of the divinity of Christ If he werecreated, he was a creature, and, of course, not God A created being cannot be the Supreme Creator He may

be commissioned as a divine and inspired teacher, but he cannot be God himself Now his bishop, Alexander,maintained that the Son (Logos, or Word) is eternally of the same essence as the Father, uncreated, andtherefore equal with the Father Seeing the foundation of the faith, as generally accepted, undermined, hecaused Arius to be deposed by a synod of bishops But the daring presbyter was not silenced, and obtainedpowerful and numerous adherents Men of influence like Eusebius the historian tried to compromise thedifficulties for the sake of unity; and some looked on the discussion as a war of words, which did not affectsalvation In time the bitterness of the dispute became a scandal It was deemed disgraceful for Christians topersecute each other for dogmas which could not be settled except by authority, and in the discussion ofwhich metaphysics so strongly entered Alexander thought otherwise He regarded the speculations of Arius

as heretical, as derogating from the supreme allegiance which was due to Christ He thought that the veryfoundations of Christianity were being undermined

No one was more disturbed by these theological controversies than the Emperor himself He was a soldier,and not a metaphysician; and, as Emperor, he was Pontifex Maximus, head of the Church He hated thesecontentions between good and learned men He felt that they compromised the interests of the Church

universal, of which he was the protector Therefore he despatched Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, in Spain, inwhom he had great confidence, who was in fact his ecclesiastical adviser, to both Alexander and Arius, tobring about a reconciliation As well reconcile Luther with Dr Eck, or Pascal with the Jesuits! The divisionswidened The party animosities increased The Church was rent in twain Metaphysical divinity destroyedChristian union and charity So Constantine summoned the first general council in Church history to settle thedisputed points, and restore harmony and unity It convened at Nicaea, or Nice, in Asia Minor, not far fromConstantinople